n     JL 


THE  FIEND 

OF   THE 

REFOUMATION 

DBTEi,TED. 

•     ■ 

PARr  I. 


LIBRARY 

OP   THE 

Theological   Seminary, 

PRINCETON,    N.  J. 

BT    155     .M175    G7 
Gray,    James,    1770-1824. 
The    fiend   of    the    reformation 
detected 

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THE 

FIEND 


THE  REFORMATION 
DETECTED. 


PART  I. 

THE  TWO  SOPHISMS  DETECTED, 

Which  have  split  the  Reformers  into  Calvinists,  Arminians,  Redemptional 
Uuiversalists,  &c, 

PART  II. 

A  BRIEF  REVIEW  OF  THE  PRESENT  STATE  OF  THE  REFORMED 
CHURCHES; 

Their  Controversies—  Sermons— Theological  Seminaries— Some  of  the  chief 

Causes  of  their  Divisions  assigned — and  some  Hints  suggested, 

respecting  the  Cure  of  their  Schisms. 


^ 


BY  JAMES  GRAY,  D.  D. 


'Then  shall  we  know,  if  we  follow  on  to  know  the  Lord."    Hosea. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

PRINTED    BY    W.    BROWN,    PRUNE-STREET 
I8I7. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

The  author  is  extremely  sorry  that  he  should  have 
to  apologise  to  his  subscribers,  for  oftering  them  only 
half  the  work  he  so  lately  promised  them.  But  to  ef- 
fect "more  at  present,  is  impossible.  The  exhaustion 
occasioned  by  intense  application  during  this  scorch- 
ing season,  and  two  very  violent  attacks  of  sickness, 
have  so  much  reduced  his  animal  vigour,  that  he  must 
have  some  relaxation. 

At  the  same  time,  each  part  of  this  work  forms  a 
complete  whole  ;  and  the  second  part  shall  appear 
as  soon  as  the  author's  health  will  permit  him  to  com- 
plete his  manuscript. 

Philadelphia^  August  H,  I8I7. 


CONTENTS  OF  PART  I. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  History  of  Mr.  M'C.'s  Controversy. 
SECT.  I. 
That  man  is  a  representative  animal 
SECT.  II. 

Of  Adam's  representative  character 

Proofs  of  ihe  fact      ....... 

Two  questions. — 1.  The  formal  consideration  in  which 
men  were  viewed  in  the  covenant  of  works. — 2.  The 
bond  which  connects  them  with  Adam  in  the  cove 
nant  

Jesus  Christ  not  represented  by  Adam — and  why 

Eve  represented  by  Adam — and  why 

Comparison  of  Eve  and  Jesus  Christ 

That  Adam  did  not  know  all  his  posterity 

That  God  did  know  all  Adam's  posterity,  and  included 
them  by  name  in  the  covenant       .         .         .         . 


PAGE. 

6 


10 


11 
12 
14 
18 

20 

2t 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 


That  there  is  no  covenant  of  works  but  that  mentioned 

— Gen.  ii.  17" 23 

Insolvable  questions 25 

SECT.  III. 

Representation  by  Jesus  Christ.— Proof  of  an  eternal 

covenant  of  grace 32 

Grace  given  to  men  in  Christ  Jesus,  before  the  world 

began  ...  ,         ,        .        ,  37 

That  some  men  must  be  saved  ....  39 

That  the  number  to  be  saved  is  fixed  and  definite  .  42 

Why  Mr.  M'C.  has  neglected  to  enquire  whether  there 

is  an  eternal  covenant  of  grace       ....  44 

That  Mr.  M'C.'s  system  admits  no  eternal  covenant  46 


SECT.  IV. 

Of  Christ's  righteousness  .         . 

A  work  on  sophistry  much  wanted 
Danger  of  premature  generalization 
That  Jesus  Christ  obeyed  the  precept,  as  well  as  suffer- 
ed the  penalty  of  the  law,  for  men 

SECT.  V. 


48 
49 
51 

52 


Does  the  imputability  of  Christ's  righteousness  depend 

on  ^is  representative  character       ....         53 

Various  systems  of  theology  formed  on  the  afErmative 
of  the  above  questions — 54,  Universalist^55,  Ar- 
minian — 57,  another  sect — 58,  another— 5 9, another 

That  Mr.  M'C.  assumes  the  affirmative  of  the»above 

question 60 

SECT.  VI. 

That  the  hnputability  of  Christ's  righteousness  does  not 

depend  on  his  representative  charaster  .        .        62 


Of  the  individualising  system     .'        . 

Mr.  M'C.'s  ideas  on  the  subject  so  peculiar,  that  no 

body  ever  adopted  them        .... 
The  belief  of  the  church,  respecting  the  individuals 

who  were  placed  under  the  two  covenants 
No  absurdity  in  this  belief         .... 
Of  the  reformation  and  reformers 
Probable  origin  of  Mr.  M'C.'s  system 
Character  of  the  advocate  of  truth 
Character  of  the  investigator  of  truth 
The  danger  of  Calvinists  becoming  philosophers 
The  causes  why  Calvinists  have  not  been  good  moral 

philosophers 


72 


CONTEKTS.  VII. 

PAGE. 

Proof .         54 

Of  the  nature*  of  a  remedial  law          ....         66 
The  reason  why  the  imputability  of  Christ's  righteous- 
ness has  been  ascribed  to  his  representative  character        69 
Mr.  M'C.'s  system  consists  of  a  word  without  a  mean- 
ing      

Of  the  nature  of  the  unity  between  Christ  and  believers         72 
Mr.  M'C.'s  theory  worth  nothing       ,         ,        .         ,         7S 

SECT  VIL 

The  universality  of  the  gospel  call  ...         76 

Anecdote  of  the  council  of  Nice  •      ,         ,         ,        •         77 

SECT.  VIII. 

Gospel  call. — Mr.  M'C.'s  system  does  not  allow  the 

gospel  to  be  preached  to  any  sinner       ...         79 

SECT.  IX. 

Of  the  capaciousness  of  the  covenants         .         .         .         81 
SECT.  X. 


12 

84 

85 
88 
90 
91 
92 
94 
97 


VUl.  COKTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Character  of  president  Edwards         ....  99 

The  troubled  state  of  the  churches 100 

An  address  to  young  preachers           ....  101 

Moral  systems,  and  their  origin          ....  103 

The  grand  error  of  die  reformation  church            .         .  105 
The  main  doctrine  of  the  reformation  church       .         .  106 
Preaching  the  philosophy  of  Christianity,  is  not  preach- 
ing Christianity              ......  Ill 

An  address  to  theorists 112 

SECT.  XI. 

The  author's  reward  for  his. trouble,  two  pickles  of  chaff  114 

Strictures  on  the  manner  of  preaching  the  gospel          .  115 

That  the  fiend  has  out-generalled  the  clergy         .         •  118 

What  is  the  use  of  the  doctrine  of  original  sin     .         .  121 

A  troublesome  problem  for  the  clergy         .         .         .  123 

SECT.  XII. 

The  reason  why  salvation  is  offered  to  all  men             .  124 

The  half-bred  metaphysician 128 

No  reason  for  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin  to  his  de- 
scendants, but  the  will  of  God       .         .         .         .129 

SECT.  XIII. 

Comparison  of  philosophers  with  divines             .         .  130 
The  reason  why  philosophy  is  advancing  so  rapidly — 
while  theology  has  continued  stationary  for  ages 

Conclusion            134 


INTRODUCTION. 


IN"  the  yeai'  1814,  the  Rev.  James  M^Chord,  of 
Lexington  in  Kentucky,  published  a  book  denomi= 
nated  the  Body  of  Christ  ;  the  object  of  which  was, 
to  exhibit  a  new  theory  of  Christ's  representative 
character  in  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  of  Adam's 
REPRESENTATIVE  character  in  the  covenant  of  works  ; 
and  to  demonstrate  the  beneficial  practical  results  of 
that  theory.  Neither  the  theory,  nor  what  Mr, 
M^Chord  deduced  from  it  under  tlie  name  of  practical 
results,  were  satisfactory  to  the  Associate  Reformed 
Presbytery  of  Kentucky,  of  which  Mr.  M^Chord  was 
a  member :  so  great  was  their  displeasure  with  Mr. 
M^Chord's  publication,  that  they  preferred  a  libel 
against  him,  containing  charges  against  both  the  theo- 
ry, and  the  results,  imputed  to  it,  by  its  author  ;  which 
bears  date,  Lexington,  Oct.  13th,  1815.  Under  this 
libel  Mr.  M'Chord  was  eventually  found  guilty,  and 
deposed  from  the  office  of  the  holy  ministry.  He  pro- 
tested against  the  sentence,  and  appealed  to  the  Gene- 
ral Synod.  Papers  containing  the  protest  and  appeal, 
and  extracts  from  the  minutes  of  the  Presbytery,  were 
laid  before  the  Synod  at  its  meeting  in  Philadelphia, 
in  May  1816  ;  but,  as  the  whole  matter  was  in  a  very 
perplexed  state,  and  Mr.  M^ Chord  not  present  to  plead 
his  own  cause,  the  Synod  directed  him  to  submit  to 


11  INTRODUCTION. 

the  decision  of  liis  Presbytery,  till  he  should  appear, 
and  shew  cause  why  that  decision  should  be  set  aside. 
Mr.  M'Chord  appeared  before  the  synod  at  its  meet- 
ing in  May,  1817 ;  aud  the  Synod,  after  hearing  the 
defence,  affirmed  the  sentence  of  the  Presbytery  in  re- 
gard to  the  THEORY  ALONE,  rejecting  the  other  charges 
as  irrelevant.  Mr.  M'Chord  protested  against  this  de- 
cision of  the  Synod,  and  has  appealed  to  the  judgment 
of  the  Christian  church  at  large. 

In  a  circular  letter,  directed  by  Mr.  M^Chord  to 
many,  and  to  myself  among  others,  bearing  date  Lex- 
ington, Kentucky,  12th  Sept.  1816,  Mr.  M'Chord  uses 
the  following  words  : — "  The  opinions  I  hold  up  to 
the  light  of  Heaven  ;  shew  me  that  they  are  erroneous, 
and  I  cheerfully  relinquish  them."  As  the  Synod  has 
pronounced  the  charges  against  Mr.  M'Chord's  senti- 
ments respecting  Christian  communion  and  psalmo- 
dy irrelevant,  nothing  need  be  said  on  these  subjects ; 
and  I  candidly  own,  that  they  ever  have  been  my  own 
sentiments,  and  I  have  long  been  in  the  habit  of  acting 
on  them,  whenever  the  providence  of  God  appeared  to 
me  to  require  it  as  a  duty.  And  I  do  not  think  this 
an  officious  declaration  of  these  sentiments,  because  all 
the  world  should  know,  that  we  are  not  disposed  to 
surrender  to  any  authority  the  liberty  by  which  ^'  Christ 
bas  made  us  free" — the  liberty  of  submitting  our  con- 
sciences to  no  authority  but  his  own :  and  of  knowing 
no  law  of  duty  but  his  law,  which  is  the  perfect  law  of 
liberty.  Those  who  know  their  conscientious  liberty 
should  be  open  and  candid,  but  at  the  same  time,  mo- 
dest, in  asserting  it.  The  thkory  alone  is  at  present 
in  question,  and  I  consider  Mr.  M'Chord  as  address- 
ing himself  to  me  personally  in  these  w^ords  :  "  Shew 
me  icherein  I  am  wrong,  and  I  cheerfully  relinquish 


INTRODUCTION.  Ill 

my  opiniovsy  I  do  know  whkrein  lie  is  wrong,  and 
I  consider  myself  in  tliity  bound,  both  as  a  Christian 
and  as  a  man,  to  comply  with  a  request  so  Christum  and 
80  manly.  The  duty  also  is  strongly  enforced  by  this 
consideration,  that  although  it  has  been  decided,  both 
by  presbytery  and  synod,  that  Mr.  M'Chord  is  wrong, 
yet  no  person,  so  far  as  I  have  heard,  has  yet  attempt- 
ed to  shew  him  wherein  is  his  error.  And  it  now 
becomes  Mr.  M'Chord's  duty  to  listen  candidly  and 
patiently,  and  to  divest  himself,  so  far  as  the  state  of 
humanity  admits,  of  all  fondness  for  his  past  opinions, 
that  he  may  so  listen,  to  what  I  am  about  to  offer  him. 
It  is  his  duty,  not  only  to  be  willing  to  admit  the  light, 
but  to  pray  earnestly  to  the  Father  of  lights  for  the  spi- 
rit of  illumination ;  and  to  take  as  much  trouble,  to 
submit  to  as  much  labour,  to  know  the  right  from  the 
ivrong,  as  it  has  cost  me  to  write  this  volume. 

I  enter  upon  this  subject,  with  the  stronger  impres- 
sions of  duty,  when  I  consider  that  this  is  tlie  error 
which  has  split  up  the  reformed  churches  into  so  many 
parties,  of  Calvinists,  Redemptional  Univeisalists,  Ar- 
minians,  and  a  numerous  list  of  other  sects,  as  the  rea- 
der will  find  in  the  sequel;  and  has  converted  them  in- 
to hostile  clanns,  carrying  on  a  perpetual  war  on  each 
others  borders,  too  much  in  the  spirit,  and  with  too 
many  of  the  effects,  of  a  bordering  war,  tlie  embittered 
strife  of  brothers.  The  present  subject  is  not  new  to 
my  mind,  but  I  have  never  been  called  in  providence 
before,  to  trouble  the  church,  sufficiently  troubled  al- 
ready  from  other  causes,  with  my  ideas  on  this  subject. 
And  without  such  a  call,  they  should  have  gone  to  the 
grave  with  me. 

After  this  declaration,  the  reader  will  have  prepared 
himself  to  move  along  with  me,  in  the  cool  temper,  and 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 

slow  pace  of  analytic  investigation.  "We  shall  march 
with  perfect  composure,  and  in  perfect  good  humour, 
without  one  malicious  thought  towards  any  human  be- 
ing,  intent  only  to  reach  the  object  of  our  journey, 
TRUTH.  So  taking  up  our  staves  in  our  hands,  "  Then 
shall  we  know,  if  we  follow  on  to  know  the  Lord,"  let 
us  move  forward. 


PART  I. 


The  Tivo  Sophisms  Detected. 

The  reader  who  recollects  the  operations  of  his  own 
heart  under  the  ministrations  of  the  gospel,  knows — and 
the  reader  who  is  acquainted  with  the  opinions  of  other 
men  under  those  ministrations  knows^  that  the  doctrine 
of  Adam's  representation,  and  the  consequence  of  that 
representation,  original  sin,  on  the  one  hand  ;  and  the 
doctrine  of  Christ's  representation,  and  the  conse- 
quence of  that  representation,  imputed  righteousness, 
on  the  other  hand — are  the  ground  on  which  sinners 
stumble  and  fall,  many  of  them  to  rise  no  more.  And 
even  those  who  at  last  stand  firm  on  this  ground,  have 
obtained  their  stability  in  consequence  of  much  totter- 
ing and  falling.  The  reader  of  ecclesiastical  history 
knows,  that  the  two  doctrines  before  stated,  are  the 
ground  on  which  most  of  the  schisms  and  lieresies 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  Christian  cliurch,  have 
originated  :  that,  on  this  ground,  sects,  each  of  which 
have  retained  the  gospel  of  our  Lo  :1  Jesus  Christ,  have 
departed  from  each  other  in  ill  blood,  and  each  taken 
its  several  way,  accusing  the  others  of  dangerous,  and 
even  damning  errors.  Yet  every  one  of  them  believed 
the  Scriptures  to  be  the  word  of  God  ;  and  admitted 
that  every  decision  of  God  in  his  word,  ought  to  be 
taken  as  a  first  principle  in  all  our  religious  argumen- 


tations.  What  axioms  are  to  the  mathematician,  and 
facts  to  the  philosopher,  the  same  is  a  thus  saith  the 
LoRD^to  the  theologian.  Now,  since  whatever  God  says 
must  be  true  ;  it  follows,  that  no  man  reasoning  fairly 
from  scripture  truth  can  fall  into  error.  Yet  theolo- 
gians contradict  each  other,  and  therefore  some  of  them 
must  be  wrong.  Now  there  are,  in  ^his  case,  only  two 
sources  of  error  ;  the  first  lies  in  permitting  something 
which  is  not  divine,  which  is  not  true,  to  mingle  with 
our  first  principles  ;  and  the  second  lies  in  illogical  rea- 
soning. Illogical  reasoning  is  easily  refuted,  but  to 
detect  those  atomic  sophisms  which  sometimes  mingle 
with  original  truths — hie  labor ,  hoc  opii^  est — this  is  the 
task.  And  this  is  the  task  which  1  must  now  attempt, 
under  the  divine  guidance. 

SECTION  I. 

The  Doctrine  of  Bepresentation, 

As  it  is  my  wish  that  the  following  discussion  should 
not  merely  exhibit  detached  objections  against  a  parti- 
cular theory  ;  but  that  it  should  also  present  a  connect- 
ed view  of  the  whole  subject,  I  begin  with  a  few  obser- 
vations on  the  representative  character  of  man  ;  fore- 
warning  the  reader,  that  he  is  to  expect  to  find  those 
points  which  are  commonly  conceded,  very  concisely 
stated ;  while  a  more  detailed  and  precise  argument  is 
reserved  for  those  topics  which  belong  to  the  new  doc- 
trine. 

It  is,  I  believe,  conceded  by  all,  that  man  is  a  re- 
presentative animal ;  that  is,  that  notwithstanding  the 
free  agency  which  constitutes  the  individuality  of  every 
single  man,  and  renders  each  individually  responsible 


for  his  own  proper  actions  ;  such  is  the  constitution  of 
our  nature,  that  one  man  frequently  acts  for  many 
others,  who  are  subject  to  the  evil  effects  of  his  con- 
duct, or  enjoy  its  good  effects,  as  fully  and  entirely 
as  if  they  had  acted  for  themselves.  This  is  what  we 
understand  by  representation.  He  who  thus  acts  for 
others,  is  called  their  representative,  and  they  who  are 
subject  to  the  good  or  evil  consequences  of  his  actions, 
are  said  to  be  represented  by  him.  Thus,  by  the  mar- 
riage covenant,  the  husband  becomes  the  representative 
of  his  wife  in  a  vast  variety  of  civil  transactions;  by  the 
law  of  nature,  parents  are  the  representatives  of  their 
children ;  and  by  the  constitution  of  civil  society,  ma- 
gistrates are  the  representatives  of  their  respective 
tribes  and  nations.  In  a  word,  representation  diffuses 
itself  through  all  the  ramifications  of  social  life.  Art 
is  man's  nature,  society  man's  element,  and  represen- 
tation the  chief  and  grand  characteristic  of  human  so- 
ciety. Now  whether  this  system  of  representation 
should  exist,  or  should  not,  is  not  left  to  the  free  will 
and  suffrage  of  mankind.  It  must  exist.  The  law  of 
our  nature,  which  determines  that  we  should  be  born 
helpless  babes,  and  grow  up  to  maturity,  through  va- 
rious stages  of  increase,  has  imposed  on  us  the  in- 
vincible necessity  of  standing  in  relations  wonderfully 
diversified  to  each  other ;  from  whence  the  virtues  and 
vices  of  others  shall  influence  and  affect  our  well-being 
equally  as  if  they  had  been  our  own  virtues  and  vices. 
Upon  the  whole,  though  each  of  us  possesses  his  own 
individuality,  and  must  exist  as  an  individual,  in  order 
to  support  any  social  relation,  yet  the  social  character 
of  man  predominates  over  his  individual  character. 

Now,  as  all  the  destinies  of  man  in  this  life  depend 
on  his  representative  character,  it  might  be  expected  that 


Lis  eternal  destinies  will  be  made  to  turn  on  the  same 
hinge.  Accordingly,  the  Scriptures  teach  us,  that 
God  constituted  the  first  man  the  representative  of  the 
whole  race  ;  and  made  the  whole  of  their  fortunes,  for 
time  and  eternity,  all  their  felicity  and  comfort  hi  this 
life,  and  their  eternal  misery  or  happiness  in  the  life 
to  come,  to  rest  entirely  on  their  ancestor's  obedience 
or  disobedience,  upon  his  virtue  or  his  vice,  upon  his 
righteousness  or  unrighteousness. 

I  grant,  indeed,  that  it  is  an  awful  thought,  that  I, 
who  am  conscious  of  my  own  free  will  and  personality, 
who  can  think  and  act  for  myself,  and  who  have  so 
important  interests  at  stake,  should  be  placed  in  cir- 
cumstances where  I  am  liable  to  be  doomed  to  toil  and 
pain,  and  death  in  one  world,  and  everlasting  misery 
in  another,  for  the  conduct  of  a  man  over  whom  I  had 
no  control,  and  for  a  sin  which  no  volition  of  mine 
could  either  eftect  or  prevent.  This  is  the  view  of  the 
subject  which  always  presents  itself  to  our  fallen  race; 
it  is  the  precise  profile  of  the  subject  which  is  placed 
in  our  view,  in  the  position  which  we  occupy  as  fallen 
sinners.  And  it  is  on  this  view  that  so  many  have  de- 
nied the  existence  of  the  covenant  of  works,  and  stur- 
dily denied  the  representative  character  of  Adam  ;  on 
the  allegation  that  such  a  constitution  of  things  were 
incompatible  with  the  moral  justice  of  God.  But  this 
objection,  which  I  have  no  doubt  many  have  made  in 
the  sincerity  of  their  hearts,  proves  by  far  too  much  ; 
it  concludes  against  the  moral  justice  of  ten  thousand 
things  which  we  know  God  to  have  done,  and  which 
we  see  him  every  day  doing,  and  under  which  we  are 
every  day  smarting.  Is  it  just,  I  ask,  that  a  brave  na- 
tion should  bleed  at  every  pore,  that  millions  of  most 
industrious  men  should  be  stripped,  every  year,  and 


every  day,  of  the  fruits  of  their  labour,  and  doomed  to 
suffer  the  combined  affliction  of  excessive  toil,  and  ex- 
cessive hunger  because  their  supreme  magistrate  chooses 
to  plunge  them  into  ambitious  wars  ?  Is  it  justice  that 
millions  of  men,  ardent  lovers  of  liberty,  should  be 
doomed  to  the  most  degrading  bondage  and  grinding 
oppression,  for  centuries  together,  because  their  su- 
preme magistrate  chooses  to  play  the  tyrant?  Is  it  just 
that  millions  of  our  race  should  be  born  to  no  inheri- 
tance but  disease  and  infamy,  because  their  parents 
choose  to  be  vicious  ?  These  things  indisputably  oc- 
cur in  the  government  of  a  righteous  God  5  and  how 
shall  they  be  reconciled  with  his  justice?  But  you 
will  say,  that  these  evils  grow  out  of  the  system  of  hu- 
man things.  True,  and  God  of  his  own  free  will  at 
first  established,  and  still  supports,  that  system  ;  and 
produces  and  regulates  all  its  movements.  The  sys- 
tem of  human  nature  is  worthy  of  God,  because  he  has 
established  it ;  and  it  is  a  representative  system,  in 
which  the  good  or  evil  conduct  of  a  representative  en- 
tails blessings  or  curses,  happiness  or  misery,  on  those 
whom  they  represent ;  and  of  consequence,  there  is  no- 
thing repugnant  to  the  moral  perfections  of  the  Su- 
preme Being  in  a  system  which  shall  stake  the  inte- 
rests,— the  highest  interests — of  millions,  and  of  mi- 
riads  of  millions  of  men,  on  the  conduct  of  a  single  re- 
presentative. 

SECTION  11. 

Of  Adam^s  Representative  Character, 

The  doctrine  of  Adam's  representation  is  admitted 
among  ourselves ;  but  as  this  piece  may  chance  to  fall 


+      10 

into  the  bands  of  some  who  deny  that  doctrine,  and 
who,  of  consequence,  must  esteem  the  following  argu- 
ment entirely  nugatory,  I  think  it  absolutely  necessary 
to  give  here  a  short  scriptural  demonstration  of  the 
fact,  that  Adam  did  represent  the  human  family  in  the 
covenant  of  works.  I  quote  for  this  purpose,  the  fol- 
lowing well  known  passages.  Rom.  v.  12,  13,  i% — 
"  Wherefore,  as  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world 
and  DEATH  by  sin  ;  and  so  death  passed  on  all  men, 
for  that  all  have  sinned;  (for  until  the  law  sin  was  in 
the  world,  but  sin  is  not  imputed  where  there  is  no 
LAW,)  nevertheless  death  reigned,  from  Adam  unto 
Moses,  even  over  them  ivho  had  not  sinned  after  the 
similitude  of  Mam^s  transgression ^  who  is  the  figure 
of  him  that  is  to  come."  See  also  ver.  15 — 19.  I  for- 
bear any  other  quotations  ;  as  my  intention  is,  simply 
to  state  the  doctrine  as  exhibited  in  scripture,  and  not 
to  illustrate  it  at  large.  From  the  passage  quoted,  and 
that  referred  to,  we  collect  the  following  points  of  doc- 
trine : 

1.  That  by  one  man's  (Adam's)  sin — and  that  a  sin- 
gle transgression — sin  entered  the  world. 

S.  That  in  consequence  of  sin,  death,  which  is  its 
wages,  also  entered  into  the  world. 

3.  That  from  the  universality  of  death  in  this  world, 
we  must  infer  that  all  men  are  sinners. 

4.  That  as  sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  law,  all  men 
who  are  under  Adam's  sin,  were  under  the  law  which 
Adam  transgressed. 

5.  But,  since  it  might  be  alleged,  that  men  die  for 
their  own  personal  transgressions,  and  not  for  Adam's 
sin;  the  apostle  states,  that  ^'^ death  reigned  from  Adam 
to  Moses,"  not  only  over  those  who  had  forfeited  their 
lives  by  their  own  actual  transgressions,  but  '^  even 


11 

over  them  who  had  not  sinned  after  the  similitude  of 
Adam's  transgression,"  namely,  infants  and  idiots, 
who  were  incapable  of  sinning  voluntarily.  And  there- 
fore, since  death  is  the  wages  of  sin,  and  sin  the  trans- 
gression of  the  law  ;  and,  that  those  persons  who  ne- 
ver transgressed  the  law  by  any  act  of  their  own  die,  it 
follows,  that  they  are  under  the  law  because  Adam  was 
under  it,  transgressed  it  in  Adam's  sin,  and  suffer  the 
penalty  of  death  for  that  transgression. 

This  is  the  outline  of  the  scripture  doctrine,  on  the 
subject  of  Adam's  sin,  and  its  imputation  to  those 
whom  he  represented,  exhibited  in  the  simplicity  of 
the  scriptural  stile. 

But  two  questions  have  been  moved  and  much  agi- 
tated on  the  subject,  to  which  we  must  pay  some  atten- 
tion ;  or  rather,  a  great  deal  of  attention,  for  a  great 
deal  will  be  necessary  to  qualify  us  for  thoroughly  un- 
derstanding  the  exact  amount  of  their  meaning.  The 
first  of  these  questions  respects  the  formal  considera- 
tion in  which  mankind  were  viewed  in  the  covenant  of 
works.  The  second  regards  the  bond  which  connects 
mankind  with  Adam,  and  brings  them  under  the  ope- 
ration of  the  covenant.  Instead  of  dealing  in  subtle 
speculations  and  strifes  of  words,  I  think  it  the  most 
advantageous  course  to  state,  from  indisputable  scrip- 
tural facts,  what  1  know  of  the  subject,  in  a  manner 
that  shall  be  as  intelligible  to  the  plainest  Christian  at 
the  spinning-wheel  or  at  the  loom,  as  to  the  first  meta- 
physician of  the  age. 

It  is  granted  on  all  hands,  that  in  the  covenant,  xldam 
represented  human  nature  as  it  existed  In  his  own 
person.  This  is  nothing  more  than  to  say,  that  he  be- 
came personally  responsible  for  his  personal  conduct. 
But  the  passage  which  has  been  quoted  from  tlie  epis- 


tip  to  the  RomanS;  proves,  that  the  whole  human  fa- 
mily were  as  much  interested  in  that  transaction  as 
Adam  himself;  they  were  personally  hound  by  the  di- 
vine institution,  and  rendered  personally  responsible, 
so  soon  as  they  should  have  personal  existence,  and 
be  capable  of  the  personal  attributes  of  merit  or  guilt ; 
and  the  personal  experience  of  happiness  or  misery. 
We  infer,  like  the  apostle  Paul,  the  doctrine  from  thtt 
fact.  And  that  a  covenant,  which  was  to  affect  hu- 
man persons,  and  human  persons  alone,  should  regard 
them  in  their  human  personality,  appears  to  me  too 
plain  to  require  much  proof.  But,  to  make  assurance 
doubly  sure,  to  concentrate  every  ray  of  divine  light 
which  we  have  it  in  our  power  to  concentrate,  on  a  sub- 
ject so  deeply  interesting  to  every  mortal  man,  T  shall 
show,  that  Adam  did  not  represent  human  nature  gene- 
rally— but  human  nature,  existing  in  human  persona- 
lity.    The  fact  is  simple,  the  proof  is  short. 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  a  man  ;  his  Heavenly  Fa- 
ther prepared  hira  a  body — sent  forth  his  son,  made 
of  a  woman.  He  possessed  human  nature  in  all  its 
parts, — a  true  body,  and  a  reasonable  soul.  He  was 
of  the  blood  of  that  Adam,  with  whom  the  covenant 
was  made  in  paradise,  a  living  part  of  that  human  na- 
ture, which  was  represented  by  Adam  in  the  covenant. 
>iow,  1  ask,  was  he  represented  by  Adam  in  that  co- 
venant.— or  was  he  not?  If  he  was,  then  he  appeared 
in  more  than  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh  :  lie  was  sinful 
flesh  ;  he  was  born  under  the  wrath  and  curse  of  God, 
like  other  sinners  of  the  race  ;  he  was  not  a  holy  thing, 
born  of  the  virgin  ;  he  could  not  become  the  Lamb  of 
God  that  taketh  way  the  sin  of  the  world.  But  these 
are  conclusions  which  no  one  wearing  the  nayne  of 
Christian  ever  has  drawn.     And  I  would  not  have 


13 

troubled  tlie  reader  with  a  detailed  state  of  the  argu- 
ment, but  to  prepare  him  for  a  question  which  I  shall 
propose,  when  he  takes  the  other  side  of  the  dilemma. 

Let  it  be  denied,  then,  as  it  must,  that  Adam  repre- 
sented the  Redeemer  of  the  world,  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ; 
I  ask,  then,  why  was  not  Jesus  represented  in  that  co- 
venant? Here  is  human  nature,  entire  human  nature  ; 
why  is  it  exempted  from  the  law  of  human  nature  ? 
What  attribute  of  a  human  being  did  Adam  possess, 
which  Jesus  of  Nazareth  possessed  not?  The  answer 
is  simple, — he  did  not  possess  human  jiersonality  ;  in 
other  words,  he  was  not  a  human  person  :  and  it  was 
the  want  of  that  human  personality,  and  that  want 
alone,  that  exempted  him  from  the  personal  guilt  com- 
mon to  mankind.  I  know  my  reader  is  quite  impa- 
tient to  pour  in  upon  me  an  objection,  or  to  give  a  dif- 
ferent solution.  I  shall  not  trifle  with  his  patience  a 
moment  longer.  I  shall  state  his  solution  myself. 

The  solution  contemplated  is,  that  Jesus  did  not  de- 
scend from  Adam  by  ordinary  generation  ;  and  that, 
as  ordinary  generation  is  the  bond  which  unites  us  to 
Adam,  the  extraordinary  generation  of  our  Lord  pre- 
vented a  federal  union  with  Adam,  and  acquitted  him 
from  any  personal  responsibility  for  Adam's  conduct. 
And  I  acknowledge,  that  this  is  the  solution  of  the 
question  given  in  the  confessions,  and  catechisms,  and 
formularies  of  all  the  reformed  churches,  and  in  the 
writings  of  the  ablest  divines;  and  the  solution  to  which 
Mr.  M'C.  repeatedly  recurs,  through  all  his  publica- 
tions on  federal  representation.  And  I  feel  that  it 
must  excite  prejudice  against  me,  to  declare,  that  1  am 
not  satisfied  with  it :  a  pruriency  to  deal  in  new  words 
and  phrases,  is  at  once  a  proof  of  shallow  science  and 
false  taste.     But,  several  years  ago,  when  engaged  in 


studying  the  covenant  of  works  from  the  inspired  page 
itself,  I  was  compelled  to  drop  this  account  of  the  mat- 
ter, and  search  for  another  ;  which,  I  hope,  will  prove 
as  satisfacto>*y  to  my  reader  as  it  is  to  myself.  1  must, 
however,  be  indulged,  in  justice  to  myself,  to  say,  that 
I  advance  no  new  doctrine;  I  admit,  that  Adam's  na- 
tural posterity  are  under  the  covenant;  and  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  not — but  I  insist,  that  natural  generation  is 
not  the  circumstance  that  brought  the  former  under, 
nor  extraordinary  generation  the  circumstance  that  ex- 
empted the  other  from  it. 

The  jet  of  the  question  is  here — Was  Eve  repre- 
sented hj  Adam  in  the  covenant  of  works  ? 

It  appears,  from  the  sacred  history,  that  after  the 
Creator  had  formed  Adam  in  his  own  image,  he  took 
him  into  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  surrendered  into  his 
possession  all  its  vegetable  treasures,  save  the  tree  of 
the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil ;  and  this  he  made  the 
object  of  his  supreme  law,  of  that  divine  constitution, 
which,  viewed  simply  as  a  law,  flowing  from  supreme 
authority,  bound  the  conscience  of  man,  as  a  voluntary 
subject  of  Jehovah's  government ;  and  which,  viewed 
as  a  law  sanctioned  both  with  penalty  and  reward,  pos- 
sesses the  strict  nature  of  a  covenant.  "  Of  the  tree  of 
the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  thou  shalt  not  eat  of 
it ;  for  in  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely 
die."  After  this  God  brought  to  Adam  the  various 
tribes  of  domestic  animals,  teaching  him  their  natures, 
names,  and  uses ;  and  delivering  them  into  his  posses- 
sion. It  was  not  till  after  all  these  transactions  had 
taken  place,  and  till  Adam  was  made  experimentally 
to  know,  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  rich  resources  of 
his  pure  and  exalted  soul,  notwithstanding  the  rich 
and  exuberant  abundance  of  this  blessed  planet,  a  life 


15 

of  solitude  would  be  a  life  without  happiness.  It  was 
not  till  after  all  this,  that  the  Lord  formed  for  him  a 
rational  and  moral  companion ;  a  companion  that  he 
could  love,  with  whom  he  could  hold  rational  con- 
versation, with  whom  he  could  enjoy,  in  high  and 
holy  moral  communion,  all  the  bounties  and  bless- 
ings of  God.  '^  And  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to 
fall  upon  Adam  and  he  slept,  and  he  took  one  of  his 
ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof:  and  the 
rib  which  the  Lord  God  had  taken  from  man,  made 
he  a  woman,  and  brought  her  unto  man — and  God 
blessed  them,  and  God  said  unto  them,  be  fruitful,  and 
multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth  and  subdue  it,  and 
have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the 
fowls  of  the  air,  and  over  every  living  thing  that  mov- 
eth  on  the  earth." 

From  the  scriptural  account  of  this  whole  transac- 
tion, I  presume  every  candid  inquirer  after  truth  will 
see  cause  to  believe,  t\\i\t  when  the  covenant  was  made 
with  Adam,  he  had  not  so  much  as  an  idea  of  any  hu- 
man being  but  himself.  How  should  he  ?  But  when 
Eve  was  formed  and  brought  to  Adam,  and  the  bless- 
ing of  fruiifulness  pronounced  on  them  both,  1  have  no 
doubt  (though  the  matter  is  not  stated  in  so  many 
words)  that  he  was  commanded  to  instruct  her,  and 
their  progeny,  when  they  should  in  due  time  arise, 
in  the  nature  of  the  divine  law  under  which  they  were 
placed  ;  and  told,  that  he  was  to  act  for  them,  as  well 
as  for  himself,  in  his  covenant  relation,  ajid  that  obe- 
dience on  his  part  should  be  life — and  ,  disobedience 
death,  not  only  to  himself,  but  to  them  all.  I  think  all 
this  obviously  true,  and  shall  not  inquire,  at  present, 
whither  it  may  carry  me. 

But,  one   thing   is   certain,   from  Eve's    reply  to 


'*'        16 

the  tempter,  that  she  did  consider  ^erseZf  under  the 
bond  of  the  covenant.  "  Tlie  woman  said  unto  the 
serpent,  loe  may  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  trees  of  the  gar- 
den ;  but  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  is  in  the  midst 
of  the  garden,  God  hath  said  ye  shall  not  eat  of  it." 
Certainly  Eve  did  consider  herself  as  under  the  cove- 
nant ;  and,  as  she  had  no  instructor  but  either  God  or 
Adam,  it  is  impossible  she  should  have  been  instruct- 
ed wrong.  It  is  true,  some  commentators  (suo  more) 
have  borne  hard  upon  the  phrase  neither  shall  yp  touch 
it,  as  an  officious  addition  to  the  divine  law  ;  but  they 
forget  that  Eve  was,  at  tliat  time,  female  innocence  in 
person,  and  stood  as  yet  far  too  liigh  for  the  censure 
of  any  of  her  degenerate  sons  or  daughters  :  and  even 
though  these  words  should  not  have  been  in  the  origi- 
nal institute,  (a  point  on  which,  as  we  know  nothing, 
we  need  say  as  little)  they  should  be  suffered  to  pass 
as  the  amiable  comment,  of  an  innocent  female ;  mMio, 
timid  least  she  sliould  tarnish  her  honour,  is  willing  to 
keep  farther  from  danger  than  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  avoid  it. 

We  may  argue  Eve's  interest  in  the  covenant  of 
works,  from  a  different  set  of  promises.  For,  if  she 
had  no  interest  in  that,  she  can  have  none  in  the  cove- 
nant of  grace  ;  if  she  be  not  one  of  them  that  died  in 
Adam,  neither  is  she  of  those  w  ho  shall  be  made  alive 
by  Jesus  Christ.  If  Eve  was  not  under  the  law,  and 
Jesus  Christ  was  made  under  the  law  to  redeem  tliem 
that  were  under  the  law,  she  has  neither  lot  nor  i)ortion 
in  his  redemption  ;  and  then,  as  the  law  of  works  and 
the  law  of  grace,  are  the  only  laws  ever  God  gave  to 
mankind,  it  will  follow,  that  Eve  never  was  under  any 
law.     The  koran  of  Mahomet  alone  can  inform  us  for 


17 

what  worthy  purpose  such  a  being  was  introduced 
among  iis. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  accused  of  discussing  points  not 
in  question,  too  much  in  detail.  But,  when  page  after 
page  is  employed,  and  speech  after  speech  expended, 
in  proving  and  explaining  the  covenant  of  works,  by 
shadowy  metaphors  and  abstractions,  and  by  phrases 
which  melt  into  mist  when  the  ray  of  truth  touches 
them  ;  I  hope  I  may  be  excused  for  treating  the  same 
subject,  as  an  article  of  Christian  faith,  and  endea- 
vouring to  exhibit  it  in  the  pure  light  of  revelation. 
Besides,  it  is  my  wish,  instead  of  a  partisan  skirmish, 
to  lead  up  truth  in  solid  columns,  capable  of  present- 
ing a  tirm  front  to  any  foe,  from  any  quarter.  But  not 
to  run  my  credit  too  close — I  proceed  to  my  argu- 
ment. 

If  Eve  was  represented  by  Adam  in  the  covenant,  I 
ask,  what  formed  the  bond  of  connection  between  her 
and  him  ?  Was  it  ordinary  generation  P  That  cannot 
be.  Of  all  that  ever  descended  from  Adam,  the  most 
extraordinary  beyond  compare,  was  this  very  Eve. 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  only  half  ^s  extraordiaary.  He 
was  conceived  by  a  mother,  and  brought  f«rth  by  a 
mother ;  one  half  the  law  of  human  generation  was  ob- 
served in  his  case ;  in  Eve's  case,  the  whole  of  that 
law  was  unknown.  She  had  neither  father  nor  mo- 
ther ;  of  consequence,  ordinary  generation  was  not  the 
bond  which  connected  Eve  with  Adam  as  her  cove- 
nant head.  And,  therefore,  I  conclude,  that  ordinary 
generation  does  not  connect  any  one  with  Adam  as  a 
covenant  head ;  for  that  which  can  be  dispensed  with 
in  one  case,  may  be  dispensed  with  in  another,  and  in 
another,  till  the  exceptions  will  not  leave  a  single  in- 
stance to  exemplify  the  rule. 


18 

If  I  were  not  afraid  of  getting  into  subtleties,  which 
might  puzzle  my  readers,  and  perhaps  puzzle  myself 
eventually,  I  should  proceed  much  farthes-.  But  I  shall 
content  myself  with  saying,  that  the  inscrutable  counsels 
of  the  wonderworking  God,  should  strike  us  with  awful 
solemnity  ;  and  in  no  part  of  creation  more  than  in  the 
creation  of  ourselves.  In  Adam  we  behold  a  man  cre- 
ated out  of  the  ground — in  Eve,  a  woman  created  out 
of  a  rib  of  Adam — in  their  posterity,  thousands  created 
as  much  by  the  immediate  agency  of  God,  as  either 
of  the  former  :  and,  though  <  he  event  occurs  more  fre- 
quently, it  is  not  the  less  unaccountable ;  yet  Adam, 
Eve,  and  their  posterity,  all  created  by  God  so  many 
human  persons,  though  created  in  a  different  manner, 
have  their  destinies  bound  together  by  one  covenant. 
But  enough. 

Let  us  now  bring  together  Eve  and  Jesus  Christy 
for  the  purpose  of  comparison.  In  how  many  points 
do  they  agree  ;  both  derived  human  nature  from  Adam, 
both  derived  human  nature  from  him  pure  and  holy, 
and  without  a  flaw — both  derived  it  from  him  in  an 
extraordinary  manner ;  but  in  this  they  differ,  one  is 
under  the  covenant  of  works,  the  other  is  not.  Upon 
what  other  difference  is  this  founded  ?  Reader,  on  this, 
and  only  this.  Eve  possessed  human  nature  in  human 
personality, — Jesus  had  no  human  fevsonality ;  his 
humanity  was  united  to  the  personality  of  his  divinity. 
Reader,  reflect  upon  this.  Confidence  of  opinion  is 
more  frequently  the  result  of  feebleness,  than  of  strength 
of  understanding,  and  as  often  the  result  of  pride  as  of 
either ;  but,  if  I  dare  at  all  trust  to  the  impression  of 
evidence  on  my  own  mind,  I  must  pronounce  this  argu- 
ment conclusive.  Adam  did  not  represent  human  na- 
ture, simply  as  human  nature  ;  for  then  lie  would  have 


19 

represented  Jesus  Christ,  whom  he  did  not  represent. 
Neither  did  he  represent  human  persons  as  descend- 
ing from  him  by  ordinary  generation;  for  then  he  could 
not  have  represented  Eve,  whom  yet  he  did  represent. 
But  he  represented  human  nature  as  existing  in  human 
personality  ;  whether  that  person  were  formed  out  of 
the  ground,  as  himself  was  formed,  or  taken  out  of  his 
side  by  one  process  of  creative  agency ;  or  created  ac- 
cording to  the  ordinary  law  of  nature,  by  another  spe- 
cies of  creative  agency. 

The  general  conclusion  is,  that  they  were  human 
persons,  under  the  formal  consideration  of  their  human 
personality,  that  Adam  represented.  So  far,  I  trust, 
we  are  on  safe  ground.  The  question  is  not,  how  did 
they  obtain  their  human  personality,  but,  do  they  jpos- 
sess  it? 

Having  brought  the  discussion  thus  far,  that  it  ap- 
pears fixed  and  determined  that  they  were  human  per- 
sons, deriving  their  humanity  from  Adam,  in  whatever 
way  God  should  think  proper  to  determine,  whether 
by  ordinary  generation  or  otherwise  ;  that  they  were 
human  persons  under  the  formal  consideration  of  their 
personality  ;  it  is  time  to  inquire,  whether  all  the  indi- 
viduals of  Adaui's  posterity  were  distinctly  contem- 
plated in  tite  covenant.  Upon  this  question,  let  us  en- 
deavour to  ascertain  as  much  of  the  truth  as  comes 
witnln  the  horizon  of  our  vision. 

1.  Tliere  is  no  quesition  that  the  covenant,  from  its 
own  uAiure,  left  t\\e  number  oi  its  subjects  to  be  deter- 
mined by  the  sovereign  wisdom  of  God.  The  law  was 
the  law  of  human  nature,  existing  in  human  persona- 
lity. Had  Adam  fullilled  the  righ'eousness  of  that 
lav/,  it  would,  according  to  the  naturi*.  of  the  covenant, 
have  been  transmissible  or  imputable  to  every  human 


pergon,  be  ^he  number  more  or  less,  on  thp  final  catas- 
tropjie  0'  he  human  drama.  Ai»cl  now  tha;  he  has  sin- 
npil,  his  sin  is  imputed  to  every  human  person,  and 
would,  from  the  nature  of  the  covenant,  be  imputed  to 
each  one,  were  the  number  a  million  times  more  than 
thf'y  are,  or  ever  will  be.  Sin  is  the  transgression  of 
the  law,  and  its  waj^es  is  death  ;  and  what  the  law 
saithj  it  saith  to  every  one  that  is  under  the  law  Adam 
transgressed  the  law  iu  one  point ;  and  James  informs 
us,  that  he  who  transgresses  in  one  point  is  guilty 
of  I  he  whole  :  though  obedience  must  be  universal, 
cursed  is  he  who  continueth  not  in  all  things  written  in 
the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them.  In  a  word,  the  righ- 
teousness of  the  law  is  a  unit,  and  the  transgression  of 
the  law  a  unit,  and  both  are  imputed  without  defalca-  - 
tion,  in  their  integrity  and  wholeness,  to  every  indivi- 
dual to  whom  they  are  imputed  at  all.  Should  twenty 
men  tell  the  same  lie,  though  there  is  but  one  lie,  tisere 
are  twenty  liars  in  the  world  :  and  should  twenty  assas- 
sins plunge  their  daggers  at  the  same  instant  into  an 
honest  man's  bosom,  though  there  is  but  one  murder, 
there  are  twenty  murderers,  who  ought  to  be  hanged. 

This  doctrine  is  so  obvious,  that  I  do  not  recollect  of 
ever  hearing  it  contradicted  or  questioned  ;  and  was  a 
good  deal  astonished  that  Mr.  M'C.  should  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  prove  so  much  in  detail,  and  in 
so  warm  and  impassioned  a  manner,  that  Adam's  guilt 
is  not  cut  up  into  shreds,  and  dealt  out  in  parcels 
among  his  posterity  ;  and  that  Christ's  righteousness  is 
not  parcelled  out  among  the  faithful  in  the  same  man- 
ner. How  could  they  ?  That  which  is  less  than  a 
whole  sin  is  nothing  at  all ;  and  that  which  is  less  than 
righteousness,  is  no  righteousness  at  all. 

2.  It  is  not  supposabie  that  Adam  knew  all  his  pos- 


SI 

terity  by  name,  or  could  contemplate  them  individually 
by  name  in  the  covenant  transaction.  I  have  already 
said,  that  it  does  not  appear,  that,  at  the  making  of  the 
covenant,  he  had  any  idea  of  any  human  being  but  him- 
self.  But,  when  Eve  was  created,  and  the  blessing  of 
fruitfulness  pronounced  upon  them,  he  certainly  did 
expect  posterity  ;  and  certainly  was  informed,  that  his 
standing  or  falling,  should  be  the  standing  or  falling 
of  himself,  his  wife,  and  all  his  posterity,  leaving  the 
number  of  that  posterity  to  be  determined  by  the  sove- 
reign counsels  of  Jehovah.  And  knowing,  (1  presume 
he  knew)  that  God  had  his  own  counsels  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  that  those  counsels  included  the  whole  of  the 
human  family,  their  times,  and  places,  and  modes  of 
existence,  from  the  first  of  them  to  the  last,  he  cousi- 
dered  himself  bound  for  the  whole,  and  for  each  indi- 
vidual of  them.  After  this  is  granted,  (and  can  it  be 
denied?)  it  seems  to  me  a  needless  refinement,  to  siy, 
that  Adam  did  not  represent  every  individual  of  the 
human  race,  as  an  individual;  and  I  cannot  see  the  uti- 
lity of  the  refinement.  Adam  certainly  did  intend  (or 
else  he  acted  dishonestly  in  the  transaction)  to  repre- 
sent all  those,  whom  God  determined  lie  should  repre- 
sent. Let  us,  therefore,  attend  to  the  view  which  God 
must  have  had  in  this  transaction. 

3.  The  question  now  is.  Did  God,  in  the  making  of 
the  covenant,  design  the  precise  number,  and  the  par- 
ticular individuals,  who  should  be  represented  in  that 
covenant,  and  affected  by  it  ?  This  is  no  very  abstruse 
point.  But,  as  God's  law  is  a  light  to  the  feet,  and  a 
lamp  to  the  path  ;  and  as  this  light,  shining  with  direct 
rays  on  the  understanding,  without  the  reflections  or 
refractions  of  human  science  or  human  arguments, 
produces  the  purest  illumination,  while  it  cheers  the 


feelings  and  awes  the  conscience,  I  shall  gratify  the 
reader  with  a  few  texts  of  scripture.     The  diamond 
will  2;litter,  even  in  a  coarse  setting.     "  Known  unto 
God,'^  says  an   apostle,   "  are  all   his  works  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world."     "  He  hath   made  of  one 
blood,"  says  another,  "  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell 
upon  the  face  of  t!ie  earth,  and  hath  determined  the 
times  before  appointed,  and  the  hounds  of  their  habita- 
tion."    Indeed  it  is  tlie  universal  tenor  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  and  capable  of  being  demonstrated  by  the 
soundest  philosophical  reasoning,  that  God  knew  and 
determined  all  his  works  from  all  eternity.  Thai  he  de- 
termined the  number  of  the  human  family,  the  time 
and  place  when  each  individual  should  be  born,  their 
faculties  and  their  features,  their  characters  and  their 
condition,  and  the  whole  scenes  and  train  of  their  for- 
tunes ;  all  in  them,  and  about  them  was  known  to  him, 
and  he  called  them  all  hy  name.     In  the  covenant  of 
works,  therefore,  God  fixed  the  number  of  mankind, 
and  designated  them  in  his  counsels,  who  should  de- 
scend from  Adam.     He  subjected  them  all  to  the  bond 
of  that  covenant ;  not  one  more,  not  one  less,  not  one 
else,  than  those  precise,  specified  individuals  compris- 
ed in  the  eternal  purpose,  and   present  to  the  divine 
mind  at  the  making  of  the  covenant  with  Adam,  was 
brought   under  that  covenant,  or   ever  shall   be  af- 
fected by  it.     And  each  person,  as  soon  as  he  becomes 
a  person,  as  soon  as  human  personality  can  be  predi- 
cated of  him,  has  his  individual  personal  interest  in 
that  covenant,  according  to  the  condition  in  which  he 
finds  it. 

This  is  substantially  the  doctrine  of  the  church  of 
God  in  all  ages;  of  the  reformed  churches  it  is  the  doe- 
trine.    It  has  been  usually  considered,  that  as  God 


knew  and  determined  all  the  individuals  of  the  human 
family,  and  destined  them  to  be  under  the  bond  of  the 
covenant;  and  as  Adam  was  bound  to  assent  to  the 
constitution  prepared  and  established  ;  therefore,  all 
those  individuals  were  represented  in  the  covenant,  in 
their  individual  personality  of  character.  But  this  view 
does  not  satisfy  Mr.  M'C.  He  insists,  that  Adam  re- 
presented (what  he  calls)  his  own  body,  but  not  the  in- 
dividuals in  their  distinct  personality.  This  is,  1  be- 
lieve, a  fair  statement  of  the  question  ;  but  tliis  is  not 
the  proper  ground  on  which  to  decide  it.  There  is 
here  a  cross  light,  which  mingles  and  confounds  t!ie 
features  of  heavenly  truth,  and  prevents  us  from  discri- 
minating the  exactness  of  tiie  painting.  We  shall  meet 
this  subject  again,  in  another  position,  under  the  direct 
ray  of  the  light,  which,  coming  into  the  world,  en- 
lighteneth  every  man. 

Before  dropping  the  subject  of  the  covenant*  of  works, 
I  beg  leave  to  make  myself  distinctly  understood,  that 
I  allude  entirely  to  the  transaction  recorded  in  the 
17th  ver.  of  the  2nd  chap,  of  Gen. — to  a  covenant,  ex- 
pressed by  Jehovah  in  so  many  words,  and  of  conse- 
quence assented  to  by  Adam.  Other  covenant  of  works 
I  know  none.  The  Holy  Scriptures  are  entirely  ig- 
norant of  any  divine  system  of  religion,  save  the  law  of 
works  and  the  law  of  grace  ;  at  tlie  head  of  the  former 
stood  Adam — at  the  head  of  the  latter  stands  Jesus 
Christ.  And  both  these  covenants  were  distinctly  ex- 
pressed in  words  among  the  contracting  parties. 

I  am  perfectly  aware,  that  men  of  highly,  and  not 
more  highly  than  justly,  respected  merit  in  the  Chris- 
tian church,  and  from  whose  merit  the  s[)irit  of  mean- 
ness alone  could  wish  to  detract ;  have  distinguished 
between  the  natural  state  of  the  covenant  of  works, 


and  its  positive  state  ;  have  talked  of  a  covenant  inlaid 
in  man's  nature  ;  of  a  covenant  concreated  with  Adam. 
But  of  such  a  covenant  the  Scriptures  sa.y  not  one 
word,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  That  candour, 
however,  that  fairness  of  feeling  and  conduct,  which 
ought  ever  to  distinguish  the  investigators  of  divine 
truth,  require,  that  we  should  attempt  to  ascertain  their 
exact  idea ;  and  though  we  should  be  obliged  to  con- 
demn their  language,  as  inapplicable  to  the  subject, 
and  calculated  to  mislead  ;  we  may  perhaps  find,  that 
they  were  contemplating  dimly  through  the  haze  of 
verbage,  a  substantial  truth. 

If,  by  the  natural  state  of  the  covenant  of  works — if, 
by  a  covenant  inlaid  in  the  nature  of  man — if,  by  a  co- 
venant concreated  with  Adam,  be  meant  no  more,  than 
that  there  was  a  natural  adaptation  in  Adam  to  be 
placed  under  such  a  covenant ;  and  that  it  would  have 
been  unworthy  of  the  Divine  Wisdom  to  have  formed 
such  a  being,  and  destined  him  to  be  the  father  of  mil- 
lions, according  to  the  present  law  of  human  descent;  and 
not  to  have  given  liim  such  a  law  and  covenant — if  this 
be  all  that  is  meant,  it  is,  unquestionably,  sound  and 
true.  And  this  I  honestly  believe  to  be  the  meaning  of 
those  who  hold  this  language.  But  still,  the  language 
is  improper  ;  an  adaptation  to  receive  a  covenant,  is 
not  a  covenant.  When  the  Creator  causes  a  valley 
to  form  an  inclined  plain,  in  its  innumerable  windings 
and  meanderings  among  the  interlacing  mountains  and 
intervening  cascades,  from  the  top  of  the  Alps,  or  An- 
des, or  Allegany,  down  to  their  respective  oceans  ;  he 
has  given  that  valley  a  natural  adaptation  to  become 
the  bed  of  a  river :  but  this  adaptation  to  become  the  bed 
of  a  river,  is  not  a  river.  To  produce  the  river,  the 
rains  must  descend,  and  the  springs  gush  from  the 


23 

mountain's  side.  To  exemplify  onr  assertion  on  moral 
subjects  ;  every  woman  who  is  adapted  to  the  mai  riage 
state,  is  not  therefore  a  wife  ;  nor  is  every  man  adiipied 
to  the  marriage  state,  therefore  a  husband.  >iow,  al- 
though Adam  was  naturally  adapted  to  become  a  cove- 
nant head,  the  covenant  itself  is  something  di^^!nct 
from  that  adaptation ;  it  required  a  positive,  open  trans- 
action between  the  Creator  and  his  creature.  Such 
was  the  covenant  recorded  in  the  second  chapter  of 
Genesis,  and  there  never  was  any  other  covenant  of 
works  made  with  man. 

This  theory,  that  establishes  a  covenant  of  works 
anterior  to,  and  distinct  from,  the  verbal  covenant  made 
with  Adam  in  paradise,  seems  to  be  built  upon  the 
same  airy  foundation,  which  supports  so  many  ten  thou- 
sand similar  structures  of  the  human  imagination — I 
mean  the  opinion,  that  Adam,  without  any  instruction 
from  God,  without  any  revealed  law,  without  any  pre- 
scribed rule,  might,  by  the  unassisted  operations  of  his 
natural  faculties,  have  become  a  very  intelligent,  mo- 
ral, and  religious  creature  ;  and  might  have  trained  up 
a  progeny  as  intelligent,  moral,  and  pious  as  himself, 
and  entailed  upon  them  all  his  blessings.  Notwith- 
standing the  boundless  extent  of  this  principle,  it  has 
been  very  generally  assumed,  and  assumed  without  any 
species  of  evidence,  that  I  can  conceive,  either  of  phi- 
losophy or  of  faith.  For,  if  you  ask  the  abettors  of 
this  opinion,  what  philosophical  evidence  they  have  for 
its  truth — what  single  phenomenon  they  can  produce 
as  the  basis  of  an  induction  so  extensive — if  you  ask 
them  what  man,  without  instruction,  ever  acquired  the 
use  of  language  ;  what  man,  without  the  use  of  lan- 
guage, ever  cultivated  his  understanding  ;  what  man, 
without  speech  and  mental  cultivation,  ever  rose  to  mo- 

E 


S6 

rality  and  piety,  or  ever  transmitted  them  to  others  : 
they  are  silent.  They  produce  not  one  single  instance; 
not  one  single  phenomenon,  to  substantiate  so  wide  and 
extensive  a  theory.  On  the  contrary,  you  can  press 
them  with  ten  thousand  opposing  phenomena  ;  that  the 
deaf  are  also  dumb, — that,  without  instruction  and  cul- 
tivation, the  human  animal  is  distinguishable  from 
brutes,  only  by  superior  stupidity,  indocility — vicious;^ 
intractable,  and  unmanageable. 

If  you  go  to  the  Scriptures,  with  the  exceptions  of  a 
few  texts,  as  I  apprehend,  very  much  misapplied,  they 
can  furnish  as  little  proof  of  their  assumption.  Cer- 
tainly the  Mosaic  history  teaches  us  as  plainly  as  it  is 
possible,  though  very  briefly,  that  when  God  created 
Adam,  he  taught  him  the  use  of  language,  and  the  ru- 
diments of  natural  history,  agriculture,  astronomy,  and 
religion.  This  is  the  scriptural  accouut  of  man's  ori- 
gin. Never  did  the  boundless  mind  of  Buike  pro- 
nounce a  profounder  adage,  than  when  he  said  "  Art 
is  man's  nature." 

It  was  the  purpose  of  the  all  wise  Creator  to  form 
the  first  man  in  his  own  image,  and  to  take  his  new- 
born child  under  his  paternal  tutelage  ;  to  impart  to 
him  all  useful  instruction  respecting  his  conduct  in 
life ;  to  place  him  under  a  regimen  of  parental  autho- 
rity, exercised  by  a  revealed,  specific  law  ;  and  to  bind 
all  his  posterity  in  the  same  general  system. 

But  let  me  put  this  question  with  another  much  dis- 
cussed, because  both  depend  on  one  principle.  1. 
Some  have  asked,  what  would  have  been  the  conse- 
quence, if,  after  creating  him  in  the  integrity  of  all  his 
powers,  God  had  left  Adam  without  instruction  or  po- 
sitive law? — and  they  decide  in  favour  of  a  religion. 
2.  What  would  have  beea  the  consequence,  if,  after 


S7 

the  transgression  of  our  first  parents,  the  Son  of  God 
had  not  interposed  as  mediator?  Here  two  parties 
are  formed  ;  the  one  affirming,  that  as  all  Adam's  pos- 
terity  were  included  in  the  covenant,  the  divine  faith- 
fulness required,  that  they  should  be  brought  into  ex- 
istence to  suffer  its  penalty.  Others  insist,  that  the  pe. 
nalty  must  have  been  inflicted  the  moment  guilt  was 
incurred  ;  and  that,  therefore,  Adam  and  Eve  would 
have  been  put  to  death,  unless  Jesus  Christ  had  inter- 
posed ^<  in  the  nick  of  time.''  This  last  seems  to  be 
Mr.  M^C.'s  opinion.  There  are  obvious  glances  at  it 
in  his  first  publication  ;  and  he  quotes  the  passage 
above  transcribed  in  his  defence  before  the  synod,  with 
apparent  approbation,  and  even  reasons  from  it.  Let  us 
then  bring  these  propositions  to  the  test,  and  ascertain 
whether  they  mean  any  thing,  or  nothing  ;  let  us  try 
whether  the  questions  admit  of  solution,  or  whether 
they  lie  '^  ultra  flammantia  mcenia  mundi,''  where  no 
ray  of  light  visible  to  mortal  eye  ever  fell. 

You  ask  me  what  would  have  been  the  consequences 
to  Adam  and  his  posterity — if — If  what  ?  If  God 
had  given  him  no  supernatural  instruction,  no  revealed 
law  of  religion  ? 

I  answer,!  do  not  know.  I  have  laid  before  me,  God's 
plan  of  his  world  in  the  bible,  you  draw  your  diameter 
through  the  periphery  of  that  diviue  j)lan,  and  ask  me 
how  God  should  make  a  world  out  of  the  other  half, 
I  answer,  I  do  not  know.  But  this  I  know,  it  is  no 
longer  a  circle,  but  a  semicircle.  It  is  no  longer  the 
plan  of  God's  world.  You  allow  God  to  make  half  a 
world  according  to  his  own  plan  :  asul  throwing  away 
the  remainder  of  his  plan  ;  you  command  me  to  com- 
plete the  draft. 

You  ask  me  what  would  have  been  the  consequence 


to  Adam  and  liis  posterity  after  the  fall — If  the  Son 
of  (rod  had  not  interposed  ? 

Here  again  I  reply,  that  the  Scriptnres,  teach  us, 
that  the  rt^demption  by  Jesus  is  an  essential  part  of 
the  divine  plan,  that,  the  two  covenants,  the  two  cove- 
nant heads,  and  their  respective  subjects,  and  all  the 
resiiltiug  consequences,  form  but  one  grand  whole, 
one  mighty  conception  of  the  infinite  mind  ;  and  again 
you  draw  your  diameter  through  the  periphery  of  the 
system  ;  you  present  me  one  half;  and  ask  me  how 
God  could  make  a  whole  world  out  of  it ;  without  era- 
ploying  the  other  half.  Are  these  questions  which 
admit  solution  ?  Can  they  6e  known  ?  Is  not  all  this 
world  making  ?  Let  us  take  warning  from  the  fate 
of  our  physical  cosmogonists,  who,  after  employing 
centuries  by  lire  and  by  water  making  a  world,  some 
out  of  something,  and  others  out  of  nothing  ;  some 
out  of  indivisible  particles  of  matter,  and  some  out  of 
indivisible  mathematical  points,  have  succeeded,  at 
last,  in  leaving  chaos  doubly  confounded.  I  am 
afraid  the  moral  cosmogonists  will  fare  no  better.  And 
truly  a  pity  it  is,  and  a  tearful  jest,  to  see  human  specu- 
lation so  lavished  on  insolvable  questions,  while  those 
which  are  not  only  solvable,  but  of  incalculable  practi- 
cal importance,  are  so  generally  neglected,  perhaps 
sometimes  despised.  But  it  must  be  so.  We  will, 
it  seems,  expend  on  perpetual  motions,  time  that  had 
better  be  employed  on  carts  and  wheel-barrows  ;  and 
weary  ourselves  in  squaring  the  circle  ;  while  by  ne- 
glecting a  few  ragged  accounts  of  a  few  paltry  dollars 
and  cents,  we  step  out  of  the  world,  bequeathing  jea- 
lousies and  wrath,  lawsuits  and  strife,  and  the  long  in- 
terminable feuds  of  kindred  blood,  to  our  heirs,  exe- 
eutors;  and  assigns  for  ever. 


But  let  us  sura  up  the  positive  doctrine  which  has 
been  ascertained  in  this  discussion. 

1.  That  God,  by  his  sovereign  wisdom  and  power, 
created  Adam  with  a  natural  adaptation  to  be  the  pa- 
rent and  representative  of  a  race,  each  of  whom  might 
be  affected  by  his  virtue  or  vice,  and  participate  in  his 
happiness  or  misery. 

2.  That  God  did,  in  his  infinite  wisdom,  make  a 
positive,  explicit,  verbal  covenant  with  Adam,  exactly 
corresponding  with  the  natural  powers  and  adaptation 
of  the  creature  ;  in  which  he  promised  life,  as  the  re- 
ward of  obedience,  and  threatened  death  as  the  punish- 
ment of  disobedience ;  and  that  this  covenant,  this 
law,  includes  Adam's  posterity,  or  more  strictly  every 
human  person. 

3.  That  in  this  covenant  Adam  did  not  represent 
simple  human  nature,  for  he  did  not  represent  Jesus 
Christ,  who  possessed  human  nature  :  nor  human  na- 
ture considered  as  descending  from  him  by  ordinary 
generation,  for  he  represented  Eve,  who  did  not  so 
descend  from  him.  But  that  he  represented  all  human 
persons,  considered  in  their  distinct  personality,  de- 
scending from  him  in  any  way  which  God  might  be 
pleased  to  appoint. 

4.  That  though  Adam  did  not  know  his  posterity 
individually  ;  yet  God  knew  them  all ;  their  names, 
periods,  habitations,  and  every  thing  respecting  them, 
and  did  intend  that  this  covenant  should  include 
every  one  of  them,  and  no  one  else — and  Adam  must 
have  assented  to  this  covenant  in  its  fullest  terms. 

These  then  I  consider  as  established  truths,  and  shall 
hold  myself  intitled  to  assume  them  as  truths,  in  the 
subsequent  part  of  this  investigation. 

Let  us,  on  the  other  hand,  sum  up   the  subjects 


30 

which  we  have  rejected  as  false,  or  incapable  of  being 
proved. 

1.  A  covenant  of  works,  distinct  from  that  made 
verbally  with  Adam,  we  have  proved  to  be  withont 
scriptural  support,  and  to  be  an  erroneous  conception. 

2.  That  we  cannot  decide  what  sort  of  world  this 
would  have  been,  had  God  not  instructed  Adam,  and 
given  him  the  revealed  law,  or  covenant — that  we  dare 
not  assert  that  to  create  a  world  on  such  a  plan  would 
be  worthy  of  God.  But  we  are  sure  enough  that  this 
is  not  the  plan  of  the  world  which  God  has  actually 
created. 

3.  That  we  do  not  know  what  would  have  been  the 
consequence  in  respect  to  the  human  family,  if  Jesus 
Christ  had  not  immediately  interposed — we  do  not 
know  whetlier  Adam  and  Eve  would  have  suffered 
the  iniiiction  of  death  instantly  on  their  transgression, 
if  Christ  had  not  interposed — we  do  not  know  whether 
without  such  interposition  they  must  have  been  kept  in 
being,  in  order  that  all  their  posterity  might  come  into 
being. — In  fine,  we  do  not  know  whether  it  would 
have  been  worthy  of  God  to  create  such  a  race  as  ours, 
foreseeing  their  fall  and  fate  ;  and  not  to  provide  a 
remedial  system. — But  this  we  know,  that  such  is  not 
the  world  that  God  lias  made.  And  leaving  the  world- 
maker  to  inhabit  his  own  world, 

'    Quas  condidit  arces 
Ipse  colat. 

We  shall  content  ourselves  with  humbly  tracing  the 
laws,  enjoying  the  comforts,  and  attempting  the  duties 
which  belong  to  the  world,  in  which  divine  sovereignty 
has  been  pleased  to  order  our  lot. 

Now  we  shall  in  our  further  discussions  reject  all 


31 

these  notions,  and  questions  wliicli  we  have  thus  prov- 
ed to  be  either  false  or  insolvahle.  We  sliall  not  pay 
the  least  notice  to  them,  nor  once  name  their  name,  nor 
look  after  a  single  one  of  the  numerous  consequences 
they  generate  ;  unless  some  of  them  should  happen  so 
to  block  up  our  way  that  we  cannot  readily  pass.  If, 
therefore,  any  one  should  think  that  he  will  have  need 
of  any  or  all  of  these  principles,  in  any  future  part  of 
this  discussion,  or  any  other  discussion  whatever,  I 
give  him  fair  warning  to  turn  back  and  examine  care- 
fully what  has  been  offered  on  each  subject  ;  let  him 
prove  to  his  own  satisfaction,  that  these  subjects  are 
decided  in  the  sacred  volume. — Let  him  prove  to  Jiis 
own  satisfaction,  that  they  are  capable  of  ever  being 
solved  by  the  human  mind. — I  say,  let  him  prove 
these  things  to  his  oicn  satisfaction  ;  and  then  let  him 
state  with  simplicity  the  evidence  which  has  satisfied 
his  mind,  and  I  have  no  doubt  it  will  satisfy  mine. 
But  until  this  is  done,  I  insist  on  excluding  all  those 
questions  intirely.  This,  I  trust,  is  fair  and  honoura- 
ble dealing  towards  truth,  and  towards  the  friends  of 
truth.  The  analysis  of  religious  truth,  like  the  analy- 
sis of  natural  truth,  is  a  work  of  patience,  circum- 
spection, and  time.  He  that  detects  a  mistake  does 
much,  he  that  adds  one  ascertained  truth  to  the  com- 
mon  stock  does  more.  But  let  us  not  be  hasty  in  sys- 
tem-making. Let  us  lay  up  the  few  truths  we  are 
sure  of  properly  labelled  and  described 

Poma  carpent  nepotes. 

The  reader  may  recollect,  that  in  page  S3, 1  reserved 
a  subject  for  future  discussion  ;  I  now  add,  that  I  re- 
serve some  others  in  relation  to  the  covenant  oT  works; 
as  they  will  come  up  under  more  favourable  circum- 


3S 

stances,  after  we  shall  have  examined  the  covenant  of 
grace,  and  come  to  compare  the  two  institutions  to- 
gether. This  course  will  save  the  trouble  and  disgust 
of  repetition  ;  besides  that  notwithstanding  the  very 
extensive  analogy  which  runs  through  the  two  cove- 
nants of  works  and  of  grace  ;  some  of  the  elemental 
trutlis  are  best  studied,  and  easiest  illustrated  in  the 
one  institution,  and  some  in  the  other.  Here,  accord- 
ingly, I  conclude  this  part  of  my  task,  praying  that 
the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  grace  may  lead  us  into  all 
truth  according  to  the  Scriptures. 


SECTION  ITI. 

Mepresentation  by  Jesus  Christ. 

I  proceed  now  to  investigate  the  subject  of  Christ's 
representative  character,  in  the  covenant  of  grace ; 
and  as  the  production  of  human  authority  on  this  sub- 
ject would  exact  more  reading  and  research,  than  I 
have  either  time  or  inclination  at  present  to  bestow  ; 
and  as  such  authority,  when  come  at,  is  frequently  very 
difficult  to  be  understood,  and  after  all  not  conclusive, 
I  shall  not  trouble  myself  with  inquiring  what  others 
may  have  thought  or  said  on  the  subject ;  but  shall  go 
directly  to  the  divine  word,  where  truth  blazes  in  its 
own  essential  light  and  native  sphere.  I  shall  also 
abstain  for  the  present  from  all  definitions  ;  as  it  will 
be  time  enough  (indeed  the  precise  time  which  scientific 
investigation  prescribes)  to  define  things,  when  we  shall 
have  ascertained  what  they  are.  I  shall  select  the 
few  following  passages  of  Scripture  out  of  many. 

Prov.  viii.  2%  &c.  "  The  Lord  possessed  me  in  the 
beginning  of  his  way,  before  his  work  of  old.     I  was 


33 

anointed  a  covenant  head  from  everlasting,  from  the 
beginning,  or  ever  the  earth  was,  when  there  were  no  '^, 
depths,  I  was  begotten  ;  when  there  were  no  fountains  © 
abounding  with  water.  Before  the  mountains  were  ?:> 
settled,  before  the  hills  was  I  begotten.  While  as 
yet  he  had  not  made  the  earth,  nor  the  fields,  nor  tiie 
highest  part  of  the  dust  of  the  world.  When  he  pre- 
pared  the  heavens,  I  was  there  :  when  he  set  a  com- 
pass upon  the  face  of  the  depth  :  when  he  established 
the  clouds  above  :  when  he  strengthened  the  foun- 
tains of  the  deep  :  when  he  gave  to  the  sea  his  decree^ 
that  the  waters  should  not  pass  his  commandment  : 
when  he  appointed  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  then 
was  1  by  him,  as  one  brought  up  with  him  :  and  I 
was  daily  his  delight,  rejoicing  always  before  him  : 
rejolcmg  in  the  habitable  jjarts  of  his  earth  :  and  my 
delights  were  with  the  sons  of  men.  JVow  therefore, 
hearken  unto  me,  O  ye  children  ;  for  blessed  are  they 
that  keep  my  ways.  Hea«'  instruction,  and  be  wise, 
and  refuse  it  not.  Blessed  is  the  man  that  heareth  me, 
watching  daily  at  my  gates,  watching  at  the  posts  of 
Riy  doors.  For  whoso  findeth  me,  tindeth  life,  and 
shall  find  favour  of  the  Lord.  But  he  that  sinneth 
against  me  wrongeth  his  own  soul.  All  they  that 
hate  me  love  death." 

The  above  passage  overflowing,  at  once,  with  the 
richness  of  evangelical  truth  and  the  richness  of  elo- 
quence, is  one  of  the  most  distinguished,  among  the 
distinguished  proofs,  afforded  in  the  Old  Testament, 
that  the  ancient  Israelites  were  not  those  babes  ia  the- 
ology, which  they  are  sometimes  represented  to  be  ; 
but,  while  they  must  be  allowed  to  stand  far  below  the 
New  Testament  church  in  regard  to  the  extent  of  their 
veligious  knowledge  and  attainments,  they  were  acca- 

F 


34 

lately  acquainted  with  the  grand  elements  of  the  re- 
medial system  ;  the  eternal  divinity  and  sonsliip  of 
Messiali,  his  eternal  unction  to  the  mediatorial  office, 
his  eternal  love  to  the  fallen  sons  of  men  ;  and  his 
execution,  in  time,  of  the  duties  of  his  sacred  trust, 
in  proclaiming  salvation  to  them  all,  securing  life  and 
happiness  to  all  who  should  receive  his  instructions, 
and  submit  to  his  authority  ;  and  pronouncing  the  sen- 
tence of  death,  inevitable  and  irremediable  death, 
upon  those  obstinate  sinners,  who  should  wrong  their 
own  souls  by  rejecting  him.  It  is  pleasant  to  ex- 
patiate thus  on  Jewish  ground,  aiid  to  iind  in  tliis  land 
which  the  Lord  has  blessed,  the  same  trees,  and  fruits, 
and  flowers,  and  the  same  productions  of  every  kind, 
which  beautify,  and  which  enrich  the  paradise  of  the 
christian  church.  The  eye  pleads  to  be  indulged  in 
reposing  a  little  on  the  enchanting  scene  ;  imagination 
w^ould  wish  to  give  scope  to  all  her  powers  in  quest  of 
boundless  enjoyment.  But  sober  truth  reminds  us  that 
we  live  here  rather  for  labo/ir  than  for  enjoyment ;  and 
that  our  spiritual  food,  as  well  as  our  natural,  must  be 
earned  by  the  sweat  of  our  brow.  Let  us  proceed 
then  to  cultivate  the  intellectual  field,  to  weed  out  the 
briars,  and  thorns,  and  thistles,  that  whatever  may  be 
the  issue  in  respect  to  ourselves,  we  may  leave  the  in- 
tailed  estate  to  our  posterity,  at  least  not  worse  than 
when  it  came  into  our  hands. 

As  the  liberty  has  been  taken  to  make  a  couple  of 
alterations  in  the  translation,  it  is  proper  that  the 
reasons  of  the  change  should  be  laid  before  the  reader, 
that  he  may  judge  for  liimself  whether  they  are  legi- 
timate improvements,  and  really  necessary  to  convey 
the  s( nse  of  the  inspired  oiiginals.  This  shall  be 
done  with  as  little  of  the  air  of  criticism  as  possible ; 


25 

the  learned  reader  needs  only  to  have  the  subject  sug- 
gested ;  aud  even  those  who  are  unaccjuainte  1  with 
Hebrew  literature  ;  will,  from  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
ject be  able  to  form  a  sound  judgment. 

In  the  24th  verse  I  have  changed  the  phrase  I  was 
brought  forth,  into  I  ivas  begotten  :  The  Hebrew 
word  *^^>  used  in  the  passage,  designates  the  relation 
between  a  parent,  whether  father  or  mother,  and  a 
child  ;  and  is  sometimes  to  be  translated  to  beget, 
sometimes  to  hear  or  bring  forth.  But  since,  through- 
out the  whole  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  the  relation  be- 
tween the  first  and  second  persons  in  the  adorable  tri- 
nity is  always  represented  by  that  of  father  and  son, 
of  son  and  father,  the  appropriate  translation  of  the 
word  in  this  place  is  begotten,  not  brought  forth.  This 
every  reader  of  the  Scriptures  will  assent  to. 

In  the  23d  verse,  instead  of  I  was  set  up  from  ever- 
lasting ;  I  use  the  phrase  I  was  anointed  a  covenant 
head.  The  original  word  signifies  to  anoint  ^pj  and 
is  frequently  used  to  denote  the  appointment  of  a  pub- 
lic officer,  because  the  rite  of  anointing  with  oil  was 
common  on  such  occasions.  It  is  the  same  word 
which  is  used  Psalms  ii.  ^  "  Yet  I  have  set  (>nDD3  ^ 
have  anointed)  ray  king  upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion  ;" 
a  text  which  serves  the  double  purpose  of  estaldishing 
the  criticism  and  the  doctrine.  From  this  rite  of 
anointing  at  their  inauguration,  princes,  or  supreme  of- 
ficers, are  deuominated  tDODl'  ^i"  anointed  ones  The 
translation  I  have  given,  viz.  I  icas  anointed  a  cove- 
nant head,  is  indeed  paraphrastic  ;  btit  the  idea  con- 
veyed is  indisputably  correct.  The  Son  of  God  was 
set  up  from  everlasting,  was  anointed  a  supreme  offi- 
cer ;  so  says  the  text;  and  the  M'hnle  current  of 
scripture  language  goes  to  prove  that  he  was  set  up, 


-T  T 


30 

anil  anointed  the  covenant  head  of  the  church  ;  nor 
is  the  slightest  hint  given  us  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Bible  to  its  end,  that  ever  he  was  appointed  to  another 
office.  Let  us  now  sum  up  the  elementary  doctrines 
of  tins  passage. 

1.  It  teaches  us  that  the  eternal,  and  eternally  begot- 
ten, Son  of  God,  was  set  up,  and  anointed  the  head  of 
his  church,  *•  from  everlasting,"  from  the  beginning, 
(from  all  eternity)  or  ever  the  earth  was — before  the 
foundation  of  our  world  was  laid.  There  was,  there- 
fore, a  covenant  between  the  eternal  Father  and  his 
Sou  from  all  eternity.  Whether  this  was  a  covenant 
of  redemption,  or  was  not,  the  reader  perhaps  has  al- 
ready decided  in  his  own  mind. — I  reserve  my  deci- 
sion as  yet. 

2.  The  Son  of  God  being  anointed  a  covenant  head 
from  all  eternity,  was,  by  his  Father  (v.  30.)  as  one 
brought  up  with  him  ;  and  was  daily  his  delight  ; 
rejoicing  always  before  him  ;  rejoicing  in  the  habitable 
parts  of  the  earth,  and  his  delights  were  ivith  the  sons 
of  men.  Now  these  delights  must  have  been  placed 
on  men  viewed  in  innocence,  or  subsequent  to  the  fall. 
They  were  not  placed  on  ^n  viewed  in  innocence  ; 
for  not  to  mention  that  to  call  Adam  and  Eve  the  sons 
of  men  would  be  a  very  singular  phraseology,  there 
was  no  reason  why  innocent  men  should  be  more  an 
object  of  the  Sou  of  God's  delight  than  innocent  an- 
gels, who  at  that  time  were  more  than  merely  innocent, 
they  were  meritorious,  and  had  secured  their  eternal 
standing  in  the  divine  favour  by  their  approved  fide- 
lity. Of  consequence,  the  objects  of  his  delight  were 
men  viewed  after  the  fall  :  and  as  there  was  nothing 
in  the  foul  and  guilty  race  to  excite  the  pure  delights 
of  the  iatinitely  holy  Son  of  God — As  they  were  cast 


37 

out  into  the  open  field  weltering  in  their  hlood,  to  the 
loathing  of  their  persons  ;  it  follows  that  they  must 
have  heen  viewed  as  objects  of  redemption. 

This  is  all  I  siiall  determine  for  the  present ;  that 
the  Son  of  God  having  been,  from  all  eternity,  anoint- 
ed a  covenant  head,  a  Kedeemer  of  men,  delighted  in 
the  ol)jects  of  that  redemption.  But  I  do  not  inquire, 
at  this  stage  of  investigation,  whether  these  objects 
comprehend  all  mankind,  or  only  a  part  of  them  ;  nor 
under  what  formal  consideration  they  were  viewed. 
But  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  reader  will,  as  usual, 
have  shot  ahead  of  the  writer,  and  concluded,  that 
those  who  were  the  objects  of  the  Redeemer's  delight 
from  all  eternity^  are  the  very  same  who  shall  be  tiie 
objects  of  his  inelfable  delight  to  all  eternity — and  that 
it  is  not  very  liiiely,  that  the  Son  of  God  delighted 
from  all  eternity  in  those,  to  whom  he  will  say  in  the 
day  of  judgment,  Depart  from  me  ye  icorkers  of  ini- 
quity^ 1  never  Jcnetc  you. 

The  next  passage  I  shall  produce,  is  found  2d  Tim. 
i.  8,  &c,  *'  Be  not  thou,  therefore,  ashamed  of  the  tes- 
timony of  our  Lord,  nor  of  me  his  prisoner;  but  be 
thou  a  partaker  of  the  afflictions  of  the  gospel,  accord- 
ing to  the  power  of  God  ;  who  hath  saved  us,  and  call- 
ed  us  with  an  holy  calling,  not  according  to  our  works, 
but  according  to  his  own  purpose  ;  and  the  grace 
which  was  given  us  in  Clirist  Jesus  before  the  world 
began,  but  is  now  made  manifest  by  the  appearance  of 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  abolished  death, 
and  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  through  the 
gospel." 

1  have  made  a  small  alteration  in  the  translation, 
because  our  present  versicm  is  neither  a  correct  trans- 
lation, nor  correct  English  j  the  sense,  however,  is  not 


38 

affected,  and  of  the  propriety  of  the  change  of  phra- 
seology, the  learned  will  judge. 

The  apostle  speaks  of  Tinioth}^  and  himself  as  con- 
verted persons,  real  living  saints;  and  asserts,  that 
grace  was  given  them  in  Clirist  Jesus  before  the  world 
began,  and  that  they  had  been  converted  according  to 
God's  eternal  j)urpose,  and  according  to  that  grace  which 
was  given  them  in  Christ  Jesus  before  the  world  be- 
gan. Now.  what  was  true  in  respect  to  Paul  and  Ti- 
mothy, purely  as  saints,  or  converted  persons,  is  true 
respecting  all  saints  ;  and  will  be  true  respecting  all 
saints  in  the  judgment  day,  namely,  that  they  were 
called  with  a  holy  callij)g,  and  made  living  Christians, 
according  to  the  purpose  of  God,  and  the  grace  which 
was  given  them  in  Christ  Jesus  before  the  world  be- 
gan. 

But  how  was  grace  given  them  in  Christ  Jesus  be- 
fore the  world  began  ?  Look  back  to  the  foregoing  ar- 
ticle, and  compare  the  Old  Testament  scriptures  with 
those  of  the  New.  Jesus  Christ  was  anointed  a  cove- 
nant head  from  everlasting  ;  and  in  that  very  anoint- 
ing, grace  was  given  in  him  to  all  who  ever  shall  be- 
lieve in  his  name  ,  and  they  shall  be  called  with  a  holy 
calling,  according  to  the  'purpose  of  him  who  gave 
them  grace  in  his  own  Son  before  the  world  began. 

I  might  go  on  to  reason  on  these  data,  and,  placing 
before  my  imagination  the  doleful  throng  on  the  left 
hand  of  the  Redeemer,  in  the  judgment  day,  and  the 
glorious  throng  on  his  right ;  I  might  say  grace  was 
given  to  all  these  in  the  Son  of  God  before  the  world 
began  ;  and  they  were  all  called  with  a  holy  calling, 
according  to  the  purpose  of  him  who  gave  the  grace — 
but  was  grace  given  in  Christ  Jesus  before  the  world 
began,  to  those  to  whom  neither  he  nor  his  Father 


39 

have  given  grace  in  time  ?  Did  God  purpose  to  call 
with  a  holy  calling,  those  whom  he  has  not  called,  and 
never  will  call  ?  I  can  well  believe  that  the  delighis 
of  the  Son  of  God  were  with  you,  ye  glorious  sainfs  of 
his,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  ;  but,  can  I  be- 
lieve that  his  delights  were  then  with  those  abandoned 
rebels,  whom  he  abhors  and  dooms  to  everlasting  burn- 
ings ?  But,  although  it  is  impossible  not  to  spare  a 
passing  glance  to  these  trains  of  argumentation,  it  is  not 
our  intention  to  forsake  our  present  purpose,  which  is 
merely  to  establish  elements  for  a  system  :  and  the 
reader  is  forewarned  to  keep  the  rein  on  his  impa- 
tience, as  a  great  deal  remains  still  to  be  done,  before 
we  shall  be  prepared  for  systematizing.  The  hewers 
are  in  the  mountains,  and  the  quarrymen  are  in  the 
quarries  ;  every  beam  must  be  squared,  every  joint 
and  tenon  must  be  fitted;  every  stone  must  be  chiselled 
to  its  exact  form  and  dimensions  ;  and,  should  we  suc- 
ceed in  all  this,  according  to  the  draft  and  plan  which 
the  Divine  Architect  has  furnished  us,  you  shall  soon 
see  stone  come  to  its  stone,  and  beam  to  its  beam,  till 
the  temple  of  the  Lord  shall  tower  towards  the  hea- 
vens, without  the  sound  of  a  hammer. 

The  next  passage  I  produce,  is  found  Isa.  liii.  lOth, 
&c. — '^  When  thou  shalt  make  his  soul  an  oifering  for 
sin,  he  shall  see  his  seed,  he  shall  prolong  his  days, 
and  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper  in  his  hand. 
He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul  and  shall  be  sa- 
tisfied :  and  by  the  knowledge  of  himself  shall  my 
righteous  servant  justify  many  :  for  he  shall  bear  their 
iniquities.  Therefore  will  I  divide  him  a  portion  with 
the  great,  and  he  shall  divide  the  spoil  with  the  strong ; 
because  he  shall  pour  out  his  soul  unto  death  :  and  he 


40 

was  numbered  with  the  transgressors  ;  and  he  bare  the 
sins  of  inany,  and  made  intercession  for  the  transgres- 
sors." 

The  only  critical  remark  which  it  is  necessary  to 
make  on  this  passage  is,  tJiat  I  have  changed  his  knoiv- 
led^e  into  the  knowledge  of  himself,  and  for  this  rea- 
son ;  the  phrase  Ms  knowledge,  according  to  the  usual 
English  idiom,  means  the  knowledge  of  which  he  is 
the  subject,  or  the  knowledge  which  he  possesses. 
>iow,  the  knowledge  M'hich  Jesus  Christ  possesses 
cannot  justify  any  person  ;  or,  if  it  did  justify  any,  it 
must  justify  all.  But  the  knowledge  of  which  Jesus 
is  the  oisject,  or  the  knowledge  which  men  have  of  iiim 
as  the  mediator  between  God  and  man,  is  the  justifica- 
tion of  all  who  are  justified,  according  to  the  Scrip- 
tures. "  This  is  life  eternal,  to  know  thee  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent.'* 
But  to  cut  off  all  possibility  of  mistake,  I  would  re- 
mark,  that  the  knowledge  of  Christ  in  question  is  not 
a  naked,  metaphysical,  speculative  knowledge — for 
even  a  devil  c<»uld  say,  ^^  I  know  thee  who  thou  art,  the 
holy  one  of  God  ;'-*  hut  it  is  that  knowledge  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  giveth  when  he  taketh  of  the  things 
that  are  Christ's  and  sheweth  them  unto  us — it  is  a 
knowledge  which  issues  in  faith,  love,  and  obedience. 

The  points  which  1  wish  to  establish  by  the  above 
passage,  are  the  following  : 

1.  That  the  Son  of  God  engaged  to  make  his  soul  an 
offering  for  sin,  and  to  bear  the  sins  of  many ;  and  that 
this  engagement  took  place  when  he  was  anointed  a 
covenant  head  ;  that  is,  "  from  everlasting,"  or  "ever 
the  earth  was." 

*  Mark  i.  24. 


41 

g.  That  his  Heavenly  Father  engaged,  that,  in  con- 
sequence of  his  making  his  soul  an  offering  for  the 
sins  of  many,  he  should  have  them  as  his  reward, — he 
should  justify  many,  he  should  travail  in  sore  travail, 
but  not  without  effect, — he  should  see  his  offspring  : 
and  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord,  the  salvation  of  sinners, 
should  prosper  in  his  hand. 

3.  From  the  two  foregoing  principles  I  deduce  a 
third,  that,  so  sure  as  the  faithful  Son  of  God  should 
fulfil  his  part  of  the  covenant,  by  bearing  the  sins  of 
many,  and  making  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin, — so 
surely  would  his  Heavenly  Father  give  him  the  tra- 
vail of  his  soul ;  and  that,  of  consequence,  some  men 
must  be  saved  hy  the  mediation  of  Jesus,  in  order  to 
vindicate  the  faithfulness  of  God  the  Father.  But  who  ? 
How  many?     Was  the  number  definite  or  indefinite  ? 

'I'wo  or  three  passages  more  from  the  sacred  page, 
and  I  am  done  on  this  subject.  John  xvii.  1,  &c. — 
"  These  words  spake  Jesus,  and  lifted  up  his  eyes  to 
heaven  and  said,  Father,  the  hour  is  come,  glorify  thy 
son  that  thy  son  also  may  glorify  thee  :  as  thou  hast 
given  him  power  over  all  flesh,  that  he  should  give 
eternal  life  to  as  many  as  thou  hast  giifen  him.^^  John 
vi.  37.  "  All  that  the  Father  giveth  me  shall  come  to 
me,  and  him  that  cometh  to  me  1  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out." 

As  I  established  from  the  53d  of  Tsaiah,  that  a  seed 
was  pledged  to  Messiah  as  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and 
of  consequence,  that  some  men  must  be  saved,  in  or- 
der to  preserve  inviolate  the  fidelity  of  the  eternal  Fa- 
ther ;  so  1  infer  from  these  passages,  that  the  number 
was  fixed  and  definite  ;  that  Jesus  Christ  received 
power  overall  flesh,  that  he  should  give  eternal  life  to 
as  many  as  the  Father  hath  given  him  ;  that  all  who 


42 

were  the  Father's  by  electing  love,  were  Christ's  by  the 
covenant  bund,  and  that  they  shall  come  to  him  ;  and 
that  he  tliat  cometh,  shall  in  no  wise  be  cast  out. 

We  are  now  ready  for  the  summation  of  this  se- 
ries, 1  hope  the  reader  has  been  sufficiently  attentive 
to  render  an  enumeration  of  the  principles  which  have 
been  established  superfluous,  I  trust  that  matter  to  him- 
self. 

But  now  1  must  ask,  had  Christ  Jesus,  the  Eternal 
Son  of  God,  the  same  relation  in  the  eternal  covenant 
to  those  who  shall  be  saved,  and  to  those  who  shall 
not  ?  Let  this  question  be  well  considered  ;  and,  that 
it  may  be  well  considered,  let  us  turn  it  around,  and 
survey  it  in  every  position.  Jesus  Christ,  the  Eternal 
Son  of  God,  was  anointed  a  covenant  head  from  all 
eternity ;  was  it  to  head  to  everlasting  glory  those 
whom  he  will  head  in  the  judgment  day,  or  those 
whom  he  shall  not  head  ?  Was  he  a  covenant  head 
for  those  whom  the  Father  gave  him,  or  for  those 
whom  he  did  not  give  him  ?  Did  lie  travail,  as  in 
birth,  for  the  children  whom  God  gave  him,  or  for 
those  whom  God  gave  him  not?  But  enough,  surely. 
That  the  Eternal  Father,  and  his  Eternal  Son,  in  that 
covenant,  which  was  from  everlasting,  knew  every  in- 
dividual who  ever  should  be  saved  by  Jesus  Christ, 
and  had  a  respect  to,  each  one  of  them  by  name,  is  an 
indubitable  fact :  it  is  the  high  prerogative  of  infinite 
wisdom  to  be  incapable  of  ignorance  ;  it  is  the  glorious 
prerogative  of  God  never  to  do  any  thing  in  the  end, 
which  he  did  not  propose  to  do  from  the  beginning. 

In  the  above  questions  I  have  used  the  phraseology, 
Had  Chris<  Jesus,  the  Eternal  Son  of  God,  any  rela- 
tion to  those  whom  the  Father  gave  him  in  the  ever- 
lasting covcuant — difler«nt  from  his  relation  to  those 


who  were  not  given  him.  I  did  not  use  the  word  repre- 
sentation ;  that  spectre  shall  be  put  down  on  another 
field.  But  if  the  Son  of  God,  when  he  was  from  ever- 
lasting anointed  a  covenant  head,  bore  a  relation  to 
those  whom  the  Father  gave  him — which  relation  he 
did  not  bear  to  those  who  were  not  given  hira — where 
is  the  use  of  disputing  about  words  ?  It  is  that  rela- 
tion, whatever  it  is,  that  is  intended  to  be  expressed 
by  those  who  assert,  that,  in  the  eternal  covenant,  the 
Son  of  God  was  the  representative  of  the  elect,  of  those 
whom  the  Father  gave  him. 

1  am  not  one  of  those,  God  forbid  I  ever  should, 
who  ascribe  every  defect  in  a  publication,  to  a  cunning 
artiiice  of  the  author  to  conceal  the  truth.  But  I  con- 
fess, I  have  been  astonished  not  to  find  in  any  of  Mr. 
M'C's  publications,  a  single  glance  at  the  eternal  co- 
venant between  the  Father  and  the  Son.  And  yet, 
this  is  precisely  the  subject  in  dispute.  It  has  been 
customary  with  all  divines,  who  admit  a  covenant  of 
grace  at  all,  to  make,  in  one  way  or  other,  a  distinc- 
tion between  the  transaction  of  the  Father  and  Son  la 
Heaven  from  all  eternity,  and  the  ejQTects  of  that  trans- 
action in  time.  Some  have  called  the  former  the  co- 
venant of  redemption,  and  the  latter  the  covenant  of 
grace  ;  making  them  two  covenants.  Some  again,  who 
insist  that  there  is  but  one  covenant,  make  a  distinc- 
tion between  that  covenant  and  its  execution.  Now 
Mr.  M*C.  confines  himself  entirely  to  what  the  latter 
call  the  execution  of  the  covenant.  In  this  view  his 
first  publication  (The  Body  of  Christ,)  has  its  merit ; 
I  mean  the  merit  of  being  perfectly  sound.  It  is  an 
absolute  truth,  as  he  states,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
bond  of  union  between  Jesus  Christ  and  believers;  and 
that  this  same  work  of  that  spirit,  produces  on  their 


44 

part  faith,  love,  and  submission,  and  gives  tliem  an  in- 
terest in  the  righteousness  and  i^race  of  the  Redeemer, 
so  that  they  are  one  with  him  ;  and  that  they  all  stand 
or  fall  together — *'  because  I  live  ye  shall  live  also." 
His  treatise  relates  entirely  (o  what  we  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  calling,  the  execution  of  the  covenant  of  grace ; 
and  his  views  are  correct,  but  he  has  not  added  a  sin- 
gle idea  to  the  stock  in  circulation  time  ou   of  mind. 

But  why  did  he  not  {.rofesstdly  examine  whether 
the  Scriptures  reveal  an  eternal  covpuani  between  the 
Father  and  Son  ?  Why  does  the  whoh^  amounnt  of 
his  reasoning  go  to  the  denial  of  sjich  a  transaciion  ? 
I  understand  that  there  are  sever  1  who  are  about 
adopting  his  theory  ;  all  of  whom  avoid  this  ground  ; 
one  of  them  at  least  who  was  toierably  ardetii  in  the 
cause ;  when  pressed  with  scriptural  authority  for  an 
eternal  covenant,  and  asked  whether  there  was  any 
covenant  before  the  creation  of  man  ;  declined  giving 
any  answer.  From  which  it  was  natural  to  conclude, 
that  this  part  of  the  subject  has  not  been  studied  by 
them.  The  only  honourable  conjecture  I  can  form  re- 
specting the  cause  of  so  strange  an  omission,  is,  that 
whenever  some  favourite  idea,  sparkling  with  the  bril- 
liancy of  novelty,  takes  possession  of  the  human  mind, 
all  the  stars  in  the  intellectual  horizon  are  absorbed 
in  its  splendour;  wherever  we  turn,  wherever  we  look, 
"we  see  it,  and  it  alone  :  It  enlightens  all  subjects,  it 
resolves  all  diificulties,  it  removes  all  objections  ;  and 
we  are  perfectly  astonished  how  purblind  mortals  con- 
trived to  grope  their  way  on  this  dark  planet  before 
the  rising  of  our  star.  To  this  species  of  fascination 
all  who  think,  are  subject,  and  subject  according  to 
the  ardour  of  their  temperament,  and  the  only  cure 
is  to  lock  up  the  pen,  and  clap  a  wafer  ou  the  lips  : 


45 

and  leave  to  lime,  the  great  subduer  of  all  our  passions, 
to  moderate  a  romantic  ardour. 

I  have  proved  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  that  the  Son 
of  God  was  set  up — was  anointed  a  covenant  head 
from  all  eternity — That  a  seed  was  given  hiui  to  be 
the  fruit  of  his  souFs  travail — That  power  was  given 
him  over  all  flesh,  that  he  might  give  eternal  life  to  as 
many  as  the  Father  had  given  him — That  all  those  that 
the  Father  hath  given  him  shall  come  unto  him — That 
he  rejoiced  from  all  eternity  in  the  habitable  parts  of  the 
earth,  and  that  his  delights  were  with  the  sons  of  men. 

I  do  therefore  assert,  that  the  covenant  of  grace 
was  made  between  the  Father  and  the  Son  from  all 
eternity  :  That  the  Son  of  God  did  stand  in  a  relation 
to  the  elect,  which  relation  did  not  exist  between  him 
and  the  rest  of  mankind ;  And  it  is  this  relation  which 
we  mean,  when  we  say  that  Christ  Jesus  represented 
the  elect  in  the  covenant  of  grace.  If  the  special  re- 
lation be  admitted,  it  is  idle  to  dispute  about  the 
sound  by  which  we  shall  express  it.  Thus  far  we  are 
sure  we  are  right,  and  cannot  possibly  be  wrong.  Mr. 
M^Chord  will  doubtless  be  looking  forward  for  diffi- 
culties ;  and  will  already  be  asking,  If  this  special 
relation  be  admitted,  how  can  you  reconcile  to  candour, 
moral  truth,  and  justice,  God's  commanding  those  who 
do  not  stand  in  this  peculiv^r  relation  to  his  Son,  to  ac- 
cept his  righteousness,  and  submit  to  his  authority  ?  I 
reply  that  this  difficulty  shall  be  decided  on  its  own 
proper  ground.  It  is  not  forgotten  nor  shall  it  be  forgot- 
ten. In  the  mean  time,  we  are  sure  that  in  the  eternal 
covenant,  the  Son  of  God  was  anointed  a  covenant 
head  with  a  special  relation  to  his  elect ;  which  relation 
did  not  exist  between  him  and  the  non-elect.  We  are 
sure  this  is  God's  truth  ;  and  we  shall  not  dread  any 


46 

tliflBculties  to  which  it  may  expose  ns.  The  same  di- 
vine truth  which  carries  us  into  difficulties,  will  carry 
us  out  of  them. 

We  are  now  on  the  ground  to  decide  a  question 
which  we  have  in  reserve.     By  turning  back  to  page 
2S,  the  reader   will  find  it.      This  question  is  now 
decided,  but  I  shall  sum   the  evidence.    Mr.    M'^C/s 
idea  is,   that  a   covenant   can   include    only   beings 
actually  existing,  that  Adam  represented  himself  in 
the  covenant  of  works,  and  that  his  posterity  are  re- 
presented only  when  they  actually  exist,  and  they  are 
represented  only  as  a  part  of  the  original  Adam.     He 
carries  the  same  idea  into  the  covenant  of  grace  ;  that 
no  believer  is  represented  by  Jesus   Christ  till  he  ac- 
tually exists  as  a  believer.    If  this  be  true  there  could 
be  no  such  thing  as  an  eternal  covenant,   because  there 
was  nothing  to  represent.     Most  assuredly  the  Son  of 
God   did  not  represent  himself  in   the   covenant  of 
grace — most  undoubtedly  he  did   not  come  into  this 
world  to  seek  and  to  save  the  Son  of  Grod  :  most  un- 
doubtedly he  did  not  shed  his  blood  to  ransom  the  Son 
of  God,  either  personally  or  substantially  considered. 
As^it  was  impossible  that  he  should  represent  himself, 
so  according  to  Mr.  M^Chord's  ideas  it  was  impossi- 
ble that  he  should  represent  human  persons,  or  even 
human  nature,  for  human  nature  did  not  exist.  There 
could  be  no  representation,  unless   any  one  can   brook 
the  blasphemous   nonsense,   that  the   glorious  Son   of 
God  condescended  to  become   the  representative  of 
nothing.     On  this  system  there  was  no  eternal  cove- 
nant.    But  I  have  the  word  of  the  Eternal  Son  of 
God,  that  he  was  anointed  a   covenant  head  from  all 
eternity — And  that  before  the  earth  existed  his  delights 
were  with  the  sons  of  men.      My  bayonet  now  more 


47 

than  crosses  that  which  opposes  me.  It  drinks  the 
heart's  blood  of  the  new  system  :  but  it  is  not  mine 
— He  gave  it  me,  and  his  be  all  the  glory.  But 
I  cannot  but  conjure  those  who  are  for  setting  aside 
the  eternal  covenant  of  grace,  only  to  consider  with 
whom  it  is  they  are  at  issue — the  way,  the  truth, 
AND  THE  LIFE.  Lay  thy  hand  on  thy  mouth.  Say  no 
more.  ~ ' 

The  reader  will  have  the  goodness  to  apply  the 
principle  of  this  reasoning  to  the  covenant  of  works  ; 
and  to  satisfy  himself  that  human  beings  may  be  in- 
cluded in  a  covenant  long  before  they  are  born — That 
God  had  determined  the  number,  and  the  names,  and 
the  bounds  of  the  habitation,  of  all  who  should  be  af- 
fected by  Adam's  covenant,  in  his  own  infinite  mind, 
when  he  bound  them  all  in  the  covenant  of  works. 
He  knew  them  all,  and  intended  that  they  jointly 
and  individually  should  be  affected  by  that  covenant. 
To  this  covenant  Adam  consented,  and  it  did  not  re- 
quire more  humility  than  he  possessed  to  assent  to  the 
will  of  God  ;  notwithstanding  that,  he  could  not  fore- 
see the  extent  of  the  consequences — Though  a  similar 
assent  to  the  will  of  God  without  an  explanation  might 
perhaps  require  more  humility  than  we  can  furnish  in 
this  philosophical  age.  But  alas,  we  lost  our  humility 
at  the  same  time  that  we  lost  our  wisdom,  and  all  oui 
other  merits. 

But  gentle  reader,  thou  art  probably  tired,  and  so 
am  I :  wishing  thee  therefore  a  good  night,  and  sound 
repose,  I  withdraw.  In  the  morning  we  shall  be  calle,d 
to  tempt  our  perilous  way. 

Per  lupes,  scopulosque,  adituque  carentiasaxa- 
Qua  via  difficilis,  quaque  est  via  nulla. 


48 

The  last  phrase  is  too  strong  :  there  is  a  way ;  and 
the  pii/ar  of  a  cloud  by  day,  and  the  pillar  of  Jire  by 
ni^^ht  shall  be  our  guide  ;  wlien  it  stands  we  encamp, 
and  when  ii  moves  we  march  ;  and  though  we  should 
lay  our  hones  in  the  naked  sands,  we  shall  not  attempt 
to  cross  the  awful  wilderness  by  any  other  guide. 


SECTION  IV. 

Of  ClirisVs  Righteousness, 

The  subject  proposed  for  discussion,  is  not  properly 
any  part  of  the  question  at  issue  respecting  the  new 
doctrine.  Mr.  M"C.  has  the  same  views  respecting 
the  righteousness — tlie  atonement — the  obedience  and 
suiTerings  of  Christ,  with  the  purest  churches  of  the 
reformation.  This  public  notice  is  given,  least  the 
reader  finding  me  in  opposition  to  that  gentleman  in 
some  things,  should  imagine  me  opposed  to  him  in 
every  thing  ;  and  should  infer  that  because  1  attempt  to 
establish  a  doctrine,  therefore  he  denies  it.  It  is  indeed, 
one  of  the  grand  secrets  of  controversy,  to  prove  what 
your  adversary  admits,  and  it  is  still  better  to  prove 
what  nobody  ever  denied — To  heap  argument  on  ar- 
gument, and  demonstration  on  demonstration — To 
challenge  your  opponent  and  the  whole  human  race  to 
contradict  you — And  then  you  may  fling  out  a  dozen 
or  two  hard  terras  about  intellectual  force,  and  intel- 
lectual debility,  about  prejudice,  and  fools,  and  ideots  ; 
nine-tenths  of  your  readers  will  all  this  time  imagine 
that  your  opponent  is  the  driveller  at  whose  solid  head 
the  thunderbolts  are  launched  ;  and  that  you  are  the 
intellectual  giant,  whose  single  arm  is  law.      When- 


49 

ever  a  good  treatise  shall  be  published  on  the  art  of 
sophistry,  this  precept  will  occupy  a  distinguished 
place  in  it. 

Nee  Phoebo  gratior  ulla  est, 

Quam  sibi  quae  Vari  praescripsit  fragina  nomen. 

Such  a  work  is  a  desideratum  in  modern  literature ; 
and  if  well  executed,  would  bid  more  fair  for  public 
usefulness  than  any  of  the  voluminous  and  endless 
publications  of  our  age.  O  that  some  logical  M^ichia- 
vel  might  arise,  to  shew  mankind  not  how  they  ought 
to  reason,  for  that  would  do  them  little  good — but  to 
shew  them  how  they  do  reason.  The  logician  might 
then  be  bound  in  the  same  vellum,  and  placed  on  the 
same  shelf  with  the  prince. 

The  sole  object  of  discussing  the  subject  of  Christ's 
righteousness  in  this  place,  is  a  desire  that  the  present 
treatise  may  contain  something  like  a  synopsis  of  the 
scriptural  doctrine  respecting  the  fall  and  recovery  of 
man.  The  points  which  are  generally  acquiesced  in 
shall  be  briefly  noticed,  and  the  principal  attention  di- 
rected  towards  the  points  where  truth  is  either  assault- 
ed or  menaced. 

That  sinners  of  mankind  are  saved  by  Jesus  Christ, 
and  by  him  alone,  is  the  sum  total  of  the  doctrine 
taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  a  doctrine  which  no 
man  can  deny  without  giving  up  those  Scriptures  as 
false,  and  delusive  ;  and  becoming  a  real  iniidel,  by 
whatever  name  he  may  choose  to  be  called.  And  if 
any  one  desires  to  know  what  this  Saviour  has  done, 
is  doing,  and  will  do,  for  the  salvation  of  sinners,  let 
him  search  the  Scriptures,  and  he  shall  be  satisfied. 
The  few  following  passages  of  Scripture,  it  is  hoped 
will  give  a  sufficiently  satisfactory  idea  of  the  subject* 


dO 

John  X.  14,  &c.  ^^lam  the  s;ood  slieplierd,  and 
know  my  sheep,  ai  d  m  known  of  mine.  As  the  Fa- 
ther knoweth  me,  even  so  know  I  the  Father :  and  I 
lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep.  And  other  sheep  I 
have,  which  are  n  >r  'd  this  foid  ;  them  also  I  must 
bring,  and  they  shall  hear  my  voice  :  and  there  shall 
be  one  fold,  and  0'!e  s!  epherd.' 

^*  Therefore  doth  my  father  love  me,  because  I  lay 
down  my  life,  that  I  might  take  it  agaiy.  !\o  person 
take'h  it  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself:  I  have 
power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it 
again.  This  commandment  have  I  received  of  my 
Father." 

It  is  apparent  that  our  Lord  speaks  of  his  sheep 
under  different  considerations  :  some  of  them  alrea.'y 
knew  him,  were  already  obedient  to  his  voice  ;  I  know 
iny  sheep,  and  am  known  of  mine — Some  of  them  were 
yet  strangers  ;  But  them  also,  says  he,  must  I  bring, 
and  they  shall  hear  my  voice  :  but  for  both  he  laid 
down  his  life. 

Titus  ii.l4.  "  Who  gave  himself  for  us,  that  he  might 
redeem  us  from  all  iniquity,  and  purify  unto  himself  a 
peculiar  people  zealous  of  good  works." 

Heb.  ii.  10.  "  It  became  him,  for  whom  are  all  things, 
and  by  whom  are  all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons 
unto  glory,  to  make  the  captain  of  their  salvation  per- 
fect through  sufferings.'^ 

Gal.  iv.  4,  5.  "  But  when  the  fulness  of  time  was 
come,  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman  ;  made 
under  the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the 
law,  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons." 

Mat.  V.  17.  ^*  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  de- 
stroy the  law  or  the  prophets ;  I  am  not  come  to  destroy, 

but  to  FULFIL." 

'<  Mat.  iii.  13,  &e.  "  Then  cometh  Jesus  from  GaU 


Si 

like  to  Jordan,  unto  John,  to  be  baptized  of  hitn.  But 
John  forbade  him,  saying,  I  have  need  to  be  baptized 
of  thee,  and  cotaest  thou  to  me.  But  Jesus  answering, 
said  unto  him,  suffer  it  to  be  so  now  :  for  thus  it  be- 
cometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness." 

These  texts  are  sufficient,  though  it  would  require 
only  the  trouble  of  transcription,  to  produce  ten  times 
as  many  ;  but  these  are  sufficient  to  prove  to  any  in- 
quirer, that  the  Son  of  God  was  born  under  the  law  of 
the  broken  covenant  of  m  orks.  That  he  was  subject 
to  that  law,  and  fulfilled  it  ;  that  he  paid  the  penalty 
incurred  by  Adam's  transgression  ;  and  wrought  out 
the  righteousness  which  the  law  required — that  he 
left  nothing  undone,  either  in  regard  to  suffering,  or  in 
regard  to  obedience,  which  the  law  did,  or  could  de- 
mand— and  that  he  was  thus  subject  to  the  law — that 
he  thus  fulfilled  all  its  requisitions,  not  of  necessity, 
but  of  his  own  free  choice.  It  is  this  fulfilling  of  the 
law  in  all  things,  that  is  meant  by  Christ's  righteous- 
ness. And  it  is  no  absurd,  it  is  no  unphilosophical 
assertion,  to  say  that  men  are  saved  by  the  righteous- 
ness of  Jesus  Christ ;  for  it  is  no  more* than  to  say 
that  they  arc  saved  by  the  original  law,  which  God 
gave  them,  in  Paradise.  In  fact,  men  are  ultimately 
saved  by  the  covenant  of  works  ;  but  truly  not  l)y 
works  of  righteousness  which  they  themselves  have 
done. 

While  the  generalization  of  our  ideas,  while  sys- 
tematizing, marks  the  dignity  of  the  human  understand- 
ing, premature  generalization,  systems  formed  out  of 
defective  materials,  have  done  immense  injury.  Some 
theorists,  for  reasons  which  it  would  not  he  difficult  to 
assign,  have  admitted  that  the  sufferings  of  Jesus,  but 
not  his  obedience,  are  the  grounds  of  a  believer's  justi- 


fication.     They  had  a  system,  and  to  preserve  the  ifl- 
teg'ity  of  their  system,  tuey  must  reject  as  plain  a  truth 
as  the  Scriptures  contain  ;  aud  adopt  a  notion  as  in- 
conceiva))le,  and  as  absurd  as  any  that  ever  entered 
the  mind  of  man.    For,  if  the  Son  of  God  had  not  been 
under  the  precept  of  the  law,  he  never   could  have 
been  under  the  penalty ;  the  latter  is  entirely  subsidi- 
ary to  the  former  ;  till  he  was  under  the  precept  of  the 
law,  he  could  no  more  owe  it  satisfaction  for  past  vio- 
lation, than  obedience,  and  if  he  was  under  it  all,  he 
must  owe  it  both.   And  so  it  commonly  fares  with  sys- 
tem-mongers.    Happier  is  the  man,  and  safer  by  far, 
who  governs  himself  by  a  few   ascertained  truths, 
though  they  should  be  as  detached,  and  unsystematiz- 
ed, as  the  proverbs  of  Solomon,  or  the  proverbs  of 
Saneho  Panza,  than  the  man  who  rashly  makes  a  sys- 
tem without  materials. 

Now  it  is  salvation  by  this  righteousness  of  Jesus 
Christ,  this  perfect  fulfilment  of  the  law  which  God 
originally  gave  to  man,  which  is  proclaimed  in  the 
the  gospel.  Rom.  i.  16,  &c.  "  I  am  not  ashamed  of 
the  gospel  of  Christ :  for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation,  to  every  one  that  believeth ;  to  the  Jew  first, 
and  also  to  the  Greek.  For  therein  is  the  righteous- 
ness of  God,  revealed  from  faith  to  faith,  as  it  is  writ- 
ten the  just  shall  live  by  faith."  I  had  marked  for 
quotation  a  great  many  passages  of  Scripture  on  this 
subject,  in  order  to  shew  that  the  covenant  of  grace  is 
essentially  the  covenant  of  works — that  it  is  the  most 
philosophical  thing  in  the  world,  a  philosophy  of 
which  no  man  need  be  ashamed,  to  assert,  that  in  the 
gospel  a  righteousness  of  God's  own — which  righte- 
ousness is  neither  less  uor  more  than  a  complete  fulfil- 
ment of  the  original  law — is  revealed  to  man — and 


53 

that  every  subject  of  that  law,  who  possesses  this 
righteousness  shall  be,  and  must  be  justified  by  it. 
But  the  work  swells  under  my  hand,  and  I  am 
pinched  for  time.  I  therefore  proceed  directly  to  the 
fatal  spot  where  the  battle  must  be  decided  one  way  or 
other. 


SECTION  V. 

The  question  then  is  this.  Does  the  merit  and  im- 
putability  of  Christ's  righteousness  depend  on  his  re- 
presentative character  ? 

Reader,  put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the 
place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy  ground !  A  sacred 
horror  chills  my  blood  through  all  my  veins — Horres- 
co  referens.  On  this  sacred  central  spot,  chiefs  of 
mighty  armies  and  high  renown  have  fallen  :  here  the 
fiend  has  ten  thousand  times  triumphed.  From  this 
spot  branch  off  in  all  directions  these  human  systems 
of  theology,  which  have  injured  the  beauty  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  and  been  the  cause  of  so  much  schism,  strife,  and 
controversy,  and  malignant  passion  in  the  church  of 
God.  Systems  around  which  theologians  j?  xvy.ai,  en- 
gage, nor  quit  the  grinning  hold,  vitamque  in  vulnere 
pouunt.  Let  us  therefore  pause  on  this  spot,  and  in- 
voking the  spirit  of  all  truth  to  guide  our  every  step, 
let  us  advance  with  sacred  awe  and  sacred  caution. 

And  since  it  cannot  be  denied  that  Adam's  guilt  is 
ours,  because  he  represerited  us — that  God  visits  the  ini- 
quities of  the  father's  on  their  children,  because  those 
fathers  represented  them — that  nations  are  punished 
for  the  sins  of  their  rulers,  because  those  rulers  laere 
their  representatives  j  let  us  suppose  that  the  imputa- 


54 

bility  of  Christ's  righteousness  depends  on  his  repre- 
sentative character — that  is,  his  righteousness  is  meri- 
torious of  human  salvation,  and  capable  of  being  im- 
puted to  men,  because  he  represented  them  in  the 
covenant  of  grace.  Adopting  this  idea,  let  us  try- 
whither,  in  conjunction  with  undoubted  trutlis,  it  will 
carry  us  :  and  let  us  mark  every  step  of  our  progress* 

I.    ROAD. 

4.  Eternal  salvation,  or  in  other  words,  the  righte- 
ousness of  Jesus  Christ,  the  procuring  cause  of  that 
salvation,  is  offered  to  all  mankind  by  God  himself  in 
the  gospel. 

2.  Therefore  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
meritorious  of  the  salvation  of  all  mankind,  and  is  ca- 
pable of  being  imputed  to  every  one  of  them. 

3.  But  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  is  meritorious  and 
imputable  to  men,  because  he  is  their  representative. 

4.  Therefore  Jesus  Christ  represented  all  mankind, 
and  every  man  of  them,  in  the  covenant  of  grace. 

5.  Consequently  all  mankind  and  every  man,  will 
eventually  be  saved.  Though  worlds  should  perish, 
though  ages  of  torment  should  hold  on  their  incalcula- 
ble round,  though  system  should  succeed  to  system, 
till  the  human  imagination  becomes  incapable  of  grasp- 
ing the  vast  idea — still  the  son  of  God  will  conduct  to 
glory  all  that  he  represented. 

Here  then  we  have  the  system  of  the  redemptional 
universalists.  The  deistical  universalists  are  a  differ- 
ent breed,  and  closely  allied  to  the  family  of  atheists. 

The  reader  is  requested  to  put  the  above  train  of  ar- 
gument to  the  severest  test.  Let  it  be  tortured,  to  con- 
fess if  it  has  a  single  secret  error  about  it ',  with  the 


5^ 

exception  of  the  third  step,  which  I  have  put  ia  italic, 
merely  to  mark  it  as  suspicioiiSy  for  even  the  guilty 
shall  not  be  condemned  till  the  jury  are  satisfied  with 
evidence,  and  a2;reed  to  a  man  in  their  verdict.  But 
admitting  this  step  to  be  legitimate,  I  pronounce  the 
whole  system  invulnerable. 

II.    ROAD. 

1.  Eternal  life  is  oifered  to  all  men  by  God,  and  they 
are  commanded  by  God  to  accept  it. 

2.  It  is  therefore  equally  capable  of  becoming  the 
property  of  all. 

3.  But  the  reason  Jesus  can  impart  life  to  all,  is  be- 
cause he  gave  his  life  for  all,  or  represented  all  men,  in 
the  covenant  of  grace. 

4.  Therefore  Jesus  Christ  made  a  universal  atone- 
ment for  all  mankind. 

5.  But  as  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  that  he  should 
atone  for  the  sins  of  all  men,  and  withhold  from  some 
of  them  the  grace  requisite  to  make  the  atonement  pro- 
fitable ;  universal  grace  is  given  to  all  men  to  be  saved 
by  the  atonement. 

6.  And  as  some  men  are  saved  and  others  not,  it 
follows,  that  those  who  are  saved,  are  not  saved  by  the 
atonement  of  Jesus  Christ,  nor  by  the  grace  originally 
given  them  ;  for  these  were  equally  the  possession  of 
those  who  are  not  saved  ;  consequently  they  who  are 
saved  must  be  saved  by  their  own  fersonal  faith  and 
righteousness,  which  are  the  only  circumstances  in 
which  they  differ  from  the  others. 

7.  Therefore  Jesus  Christ  did  not  save  men ;  but 
placed  them  in  a  saveable  state ;  and  by  his  universal 


56 

retlemption  and  universal  grace,  put  them  in  a  condi- 
tion to  save  themselves. 

8.  Since  the  atonement  and  grace  are  universal,  and 
some  believe  and  otliers  do  not  believe,  it  foUovi^s  that 
the  grace  is  not  necessarily  efficacious  ;  and  since  no 
other  cause  can  be  assigned  of  its  efficacy  in  any,  we 
must  ascribe  it  to  the  free-will  of  man. 

9.  And  since  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  no4  ne- 
cessarily efficacious,  on  this  free-will,  it  follows  that  a 
saint's  standing  in  grace  is  not  infallibly  secured,  he 
may  tlierefore  fall  away  and  be  lost. 

This  is  the  Arminian  system  ;  and  let  the  reader  be 
conjured  to  put  it  to  the  torture,  and  ti'y  its  metal. 
With  the  exception  of  the  third  step,  now  become 
doubly  suspicious,  I  do  believe  that  it  will  stand  the 
most  rigorous  investigation  that  can  be  given.  I  can 
only  speak  for  myself,  and  must  say  this  system  ap- 
pears to  me,  with  the  single  exception  mentioned,  to 
be  one  of  the  most  gigantic  efforts  of  human  genius. 
Neither  St.  Paul's  at  London,  nor  St.  Peter's  at  Rome, 
nor  any  other  basilic,  ancient  or  modern,  exhibits  such 
grandeur  of  design,  such  proportion  of  parts,  such 
powerful  combinations,  such  totality,  as  this  system. 
I  do  not  believe  the  system  to  be  true  ;  and  therefore 
I  wonder  at  it  the  more ;  what  painful  researches ; 
what  troublesome  objections  ;  what  searching  of  the 
Scriptures ;  what  textual  difficulties ;  what  verbal 
niceties  ;  and  yet  after  all  the  structure  is  finished  off, 
and  covered  in  with  so  bold  and  awful  a  dome,  that 
we  gaze  with  wonder  and  with  terror,  and  ask  if  the 
architect  was  a  man  !  But  wonder  at  what  we  may,  it 
is  no  wonder  at  all  that  the  heads  which  put  this  system 
together  should  hitherto  have  double  distanced  all 
competitors  on  the  field  of  moral  science.     I  speak  of  it 


57 

merely  as  a  system ;  it  is  possible  to  batter  it  all  around 
with  texts  of  Scripture  ;  but  if  its  elemental  principles 
be  granted,  it  will  be  impossible  to  find  a  flaw  in  the 
the  arguments. 

Let  us  advert  to  one  curious  circumstance,  which 
shows  the  struggle  of  sound  faith  with  false  philoso- 
phy. The  Arminian  has  often  been  puzzled  with  the 
question,  why,  seeing  you  maintain  universal  atone- 
ment and  universal  grace,  do  you  not  also  admit  uni- 
versal salvation  ?  And  he  certainly  would  have,  ac- 
cording to  fair  reasoning,  to  have  admitted  universal 
salvation,  had  not  his  faith  hedged  him  in.  He  saw 
in  the  Scriptures  that  all  men  will  not  be  saved  ;  and 
admitting  this  among  his  elemental  truths  ;  he  had  to 
part  wiih  the  redemptional  universalist.  His  task  be- 
came more  diflBcult ;  but  his  system  became  grander, 
and  more  complex. 

III.    ROAD. 

1.  The  oflPer  of  everlasting  life  is  made  to  all  men 
in  the  gospel. 

S.  Jesus  Christ  specifically  atoned  for  the  elect ;  or 
^represented  the  elect  alone  in  the  covenant  of  grace. 

3.  But  this  atonement,  or  its  imputability,  depended 
on  his  representative  character. 

4.  Now  since  he  specifically  died  for  the  elect,  and 
is  proclaimed  a  Saviour  to  the  non  elect,  it  follows  that 
lie  must  in  some  sense  have  died  for  all  men. 

What  that  some  sense  is  we  are  not  told  ;  but  it 
would  seem  that  he  did  not  die  for  the  non-elect  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  he  died  for  the  elect. 

This  doctrine  I  have  read  in  a  book  written  by  a 


58 

New  England  divine,  who  had  the  honour  of  repre- 
senting his  country  in  the  congress  of  the  United 
States.  The  same  doctrine  may  be  found  in  the  writ- 
ings and  speeches  of  others ;  but  I  cannot  name  any 
party  or  denomination  who  have  made  it  their  badge 
and  shibboletii. 

IV.    ROAD. 

1.  The  gospel  oflfers  righteousness  and  life  to  all 
men,  by  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  Therefore  men  indefinitely  have  a  right  to  ac- 
cept this  atonement. 

3.  ihe  imputability  of  that  atonement  depends 
on  his  representation. 

■■:-.  Con  -equently  Jesus  Christ  died  not  for  all  men — 
nor  for  any  man  in  particular,  but  for  men  indefinitely. 
With  respect  to  this  system  of  indefinite  atonement, 
I  mean  to  say  only  this  much,  that  it  has  this  singular 
merit,  honour,  and  glory,  beyond  all  the  other  systems 
that  ever  were  in  this  world,  that  it  is  built  up  without 
the  expense  of  one  single  idea,  good  or  bad. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  human  understanding, 
after  finding  itself  tantalized  with  a  vocabulary  of 
sounds,  about  an  atonement  made  for  those  who  were 
not  intended  to  be  saved  by  it — and  made  in  some  sense 
for  all  men — about  an  indefinite  atonement,  made  for 
every  man,  and  for  no  man — Should  turn  away  with 
disgust  from  sounds  which  neither  profit  the  head  nor 
the  heart,  nor  fit  a  man  for  either  this  life  or  the  next ; 
and  give  up  the  atonement  altogether.  There  is  no 
mystery  respecting  the  cause  of  the  increase  of  Soci- 
nianism,  it  is  only  ceasing  to  use  a  word,  that  has  long 
lost  its  meaning. 


59 


V.    ROAD. 


The  most  frightful  idea  on  the  suhject  of  atonement^ 
or  any  other  subject,  that  ever  entered  the  human  heart, 
was  broached  some  years  ago  in  Edinburgh.  It  was 
this  :  That  Jesus  Christ  did  indeed  die  for  all — both 
elect  and  non-elect.  That  he  purchased  them  all  from 
his  heavenly  Father ;  the  elect,  that  he  might  confer 
upon  them  eternal  life,  the  non-elect,  that  he  might 
inflict  on  them  everlasting  wrath.  That,  in  conse- 
quence of  this  purchase,  he  has  the  privilege  of  bestow- 
ing on  the  one,  the  everlasting  consolations  of  heaven  ; 
and  of  inflicting  on  the  other,  the  superior  torments  of 
what  they  csiWed  gospel  wrath  ;  in  short,  that  the  Son 
of  God  laid  down  his  life,  as  much  that  he  might  damn 
one  class  of  mankind,  as  that  he  might  save  the  other. 
But  I  have  never  understood,  that  a  party  could  be 
gotten  to  rally  round  so  black  a  standard.  The  heart 
recoiled  from  giving  both  God  and  the  Saviour  such  a 
character,  that  it  could  not  behold  them  without  terror 
and  hatred. 

I  could  name  some  other  systems,  corrupted  by  the 
same  sophism  ;  but  as  the  worst  of  all  surfeits,  is  a 
logical  surfeit,  I  forbear.  There  are,  however,  some 
straggling,  unsystematized  ideas  floating  in  society, 
which  I  may  just  hint  at ;  such  as  the  following  :•— 
That  we  offer  eternal  life  to  all  the  hearers  of  the  gos- 
pel, because  we  do  not  know  who  are  elected.  This 
is  a  very  lank  sophism  ;  because  since  it  is  God, 
who  knoweth  all  things,  that  makes  the  offer  of  life  to 
all  men,  it  follows,  that  either  it  ought  to  be  complied 
with,  or  ought  not :  and  if  complied  with,  the  salvafion 
of  the  applicant  must  be  possible,  nay  certain.   Again, 


60 

we  have  heard  it  said,  that  there  is  not  a  promise  in 
the  whole  word  of  God,  except  to  believers  :  which  is 
as  much  as  to  say,  tl-iat  a  man  must  believe,  before 
there  is  any  thing  for  him  to  believe  ;  or,  speaking  in 
the  technical  phrase,  the  act  of  faith  must  exist  before 
its  object ;  or,  taliving  with  mathematicians,  I  must 
demonstrate  a  proposition  before  there  can  be  any  pro- 
position to  be  demonstrated.     But  I  forbear. 

Let  us  now  sum  up  our  acquisitions.  We  have 
found,  that  by  assuming  the  principle  that  Christ's 
righteousness  is  imputable  to  men,  because  he  repre- 
sented them  in  the  covenant — and,  combining  it  with 
truths  of  unquestionable  authority,  it  universally  led 
us  astray  ;  it  made  us,  in  one  set  of  principles,  univer- 
salists,  in  another,  Arminians,  in  another,  something 
else  ;  in  a  word,  there  was  not  an  error  on  the  subject, 
into  which  it  did  not  lead  us  ;  till  we  were  obliged  to 
give  up  atonement  all  together  :  Can  this  principle 
then  be  true  ?  Can  that  condiment  which  mixed  with 
every  dish  of  every  kind,  converts  them  all  into  poison, 
be  any  thing  but  poison  ?  Did  ever  truth  in  conjunc- 
tion with  truth  generate  error  ? 

Now  this  very  principle  is  assumed  through  the 
whole  of  Mr.  M^C.^s  scheme.  Nay,  it  was  the  as- 
sumption of  this  principle  that  laid  the  necessity  for 
his  scheme.  It  mingles  itself  with  the  whole,  and 
leavens  the  whole  ;  it  is  the  anima  mundi  of  the  system, 
from  it  all  things  proceed,  and  into  it  all  things  are 
finally  resolved.     I  shall  verify  this  by  a  quotation. 

Plea,  p.  S8,  29.  After  proving,  by  several  quota- 
tions, that  the  gospel  offers  peace,  and  pardon,  and 
everlasting  life,  to  every  creature,  he  goes  on  to  argue 
thus  : 

^*  Clearly  then,  if  the  commission  embraces  ^  every 


6i 

creature/  and  is  to  be  executed  in  this  way,  the  proffer 
of  the  gospel  must  include  all  the  virtues  of  the  atone- 
ment, intercession,  and  every  other  official  act  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  enter  iuto  tlie  ground  work 
of  salvation.  Now  let  it  be  inquired  how  such  a  pro- 
clamation of  the  gospel  of  peace  can  possibly  comport 
with  the  assumptions  laid  down  in  the  individualizing 
scheme  ?  Did  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  formally  and 
from  the  first,  include  under  his  rejiresentation  all 
those  whom  it  is  his  pleasure  shall  be  saved  ?  Did  he 
do  it  in  such  a  way  that  the  virtues  of  his  office,  while 
they  must  of  necessity  extend  to  them  formally  and  le- 
gally speaking,  cannot  by  possibility  be  extended  to 
others,  but  upon  the  supposition,  that  as  they  were  not 
represented^  they  must  be  pardoned  without  satisfac- 
tion, justified  without  righteousness,  and  saved  without 
intercession  ? — then,  we  say,  that  the  proclamation  of 
the  gospel  to  characters  of  this  description,  would  not 
merely  amount  to  a  piece  of  solemn  mockery  ;  it  would 
be  directly  and  unequivocally  the  proclamation  of  a 
lie  ;  and  the  doctrine  which  authorizes  it,  is  nothing 
less  than  blasphemy  against  Almighty  God.  What ! 
men  officially  appointed  to  offer  pardon  and  righteous- 
ness, and  eternal  life,  in  God's  name,  ^  in  Christ's 
stead,'  when  no  pardon  has  been  produced,  tiiat  the 
law  will  permit  to  be  applied  to  them  !  When  no 
righteousness  has  been  prepared,  that  by  possibility  of 
application  might  be  made  to  cover  them  !  When  no 
intercessor  could,  consistently  with  his  official  engage- 
ment, undertake  for  them  !  And  when  they  are  left,  to 
all  intents  and  purposes,  in  the  same  relations,  and  in 
the  same  condition  in  law  and  in  fact,  as  if  no  such 
thing  as  a  Saviour  had  been  appointed  for  the  world  ! 
Who  dare  ascribe  to  God  this  worse  that  Punic  faith  ? 


03 

Who  that  does  ascribe  it,  dare  presume  to  say  that 
'  faithfulness  shall  be  the  giidie  of  his  reins  ?'  " 

Clearly  then  Mr.  M^Chord  does  assume,  as  a  prin- 
eiple,  that  the  imputability  of  Christ's  riajbteousness 
depends  on  his  representative  character — and  that 
if  mankind  were  not  represented  by  Jesus  Christ, 
this  rij^hteousness  would  not  be  capable  of  being 
imputed  to  them.  And  truly,  if  I  believed  the  as- 
sumption, I  could  not  get  free  from  the  conclusion. 
And  then  I  must  either  give  up  the  bible  as  a  poor  de- 
lusion ;  or  hold  it,  without  being  able  to  see  its  con- 
sistency with  any  one  moral  attribute  of  the  Deity. 
Mr.  M^C.  does  not  draw  his  conclusions  too  strong, 
he  does  not  speak  too  loud  ;  human  language  has  not 
thunders  loud  enough  to  anathematise  the  idea,  that 
Christ's  righteousness  is  not  imputable  to  every  soul  of 
man  ;  that  every  soul  of  man,  who  hears  the  joyful 
sound,  has  not  a  right,  nay,  is  not  bound  in  duty, 
bound  under  everlasting  penalties,  to  accept  the  prof- 
ferred  life — And  that  every  soul  who  doth  embrace 
the  proffered  life,  shall  enjoy  it,  so  surely  as  it  is  true, 
that  God,  who  cannot  lie,  hath  said  it.  I  therefore  go 
en  to  demonstrate. 


SECTION  VI. 

TJiat  the  imputability  of  Chrisfs  righteousness  does 
not  dependM  any  manner,  nor  in  any  degree,  on  his 
representative  character. 

But  what !  my  reader  will  say,  did  you  not  tell  me, 
at  the  beginning,  that  the  imputability  of  Adam's  guilt 
depended  on  his  representative  character  ?  I  did.  And 


63 

did  you  not  admit  that  the  imputation  of  merit  and  de- 
merit, in  human  societies,  depended  on  the  representa- 
tion of  those  societies  by  tlieir  rulers  ?  I  did.  And 
do  you  assert  that  the  imputability  of  Christ's  merit 
does  not  depend  on  his  representative  character?  1  do. 
I  assert,  that  it  does  not  at  all  depend  on  such  repre- 
sentation. Will  you  not  then  involve  yourself  in  a 
difficulty  by  assigning  representation  as  the  ground  of 
imputation  in  the  one  case,  and  not  in  the  other  ?  But 
what  if  I  should  get  into  a  difficulty,  since  I  cannot 
avoid  it  ?  At  least  you  had  better  remove  the  difficulty 
before  you  go  farther.  No,  Sir,  I  am  not  fond  of  diffi- 
culties, and  keep  out  of  them  as  long  as  I  can.  And 
I  shall  tell  you  how  I  mean  to  manage  this  one.  I 
shall  try  to  demonstrate  my  doctrine ;  If  I  fail  ia 
my  proof  I  shall  never  meet  the  difficulty — should 
I  succeed  in  proving  that  this  is  the  very  truth,  then  I 
shall  hold  it  in  spite  of  ten  thousand  difficulties.  And 
whenever  I  meet  a  difficulty  which  I  cannot  remove, 
or  jump  over,  I  shall  plant  my  standard,  and  let  the 
commander  in  chief  call  a  better  soldier  to  carry  it 
farther. 

I  do  not  here  urge  the  proof  which  has  been  offered, 
that  the  assumptiom  of  the  truth  of  the  principle  in  ques- 
tion, has  always  corrupted  the  faith  of  the  gospel;  and 
I  should  have  spared  myself  the  trouble  of  stating  the 
subject  with  so  much  formality  :  but  I  thought  it  a  fair 
occasion  to  pay  an  old  debt,  long  due  to  old  foes.  We 
never  have  met  without  a  battle  ;  and  we  never  shall 
meet  without  a  battle.  They  have  had  their  day,  and 
I  shall  have  mine  ;  for  the  feud  is  sworn  and  deadly 
on  both  sides.  I  have  showed  to  all,  the  very  spot  on 
which  those  who  have  hitherto  corrupted  the  church's 
faith,  have  stumbled.    It  was  bv  assumius;  that  the  im- 


6h 

pulation  of  Christ's  rigliteousness  depends  on  his  repre' 
sentative  character.  And  it  is  an  anxious  desire  to  dis- 
charge a  duty  of  love  to  Mr.  M'C.  by  setting  liim,  as 
soon  as  possible,  on  his  feet,  and  keeping  him  from  the 
most  unfortunate  of  all  situations,  that  of  a  leader  in  er- 
roneous doctrine — that  induced  me  to  hasten  so  rapidly, 
this  publication.  I  do  not  believe  that  his  error  has 
yet  essentially  affected  his  faith,  and  perhaps  he  might 
continue  to  hold  his  otherwise  salutary  creed.  But 
when  I  consider  that  this  single  mistake  has,  in  all  in- 
stances, issued  in  fearful  consequence,  I  must  not  be 
slack. 

By  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  understand 
his  complete  fulfilment  of  the  law  of  works,  both  by 
obeying  its  precept,  and  paying  the  penalty  incurred 
by  human  transgression.  But  if  you  ask  why  it  is  me- 
ritorious ?  I  ask  again,  what  makes  light  to  be  light? 
what  makes  truth  to  be  truth  ?  Because  it  is  their  na- 
ture, you  will  reply — right !  And  let  me  add,  that  it 
is  the  glorious  nature  of  righteousness  to  be  meritori- 
ous, according  to  tlie  nature  of  the  law%  Now  the  law 
of  works  was  of  such  a  nature,  that  its  righteousness, 
whenever  wrought  out,  was  capable  of  being  imputed 
to  all  the  subjects  of  that  law.  If  Adam  had  fulfilled 
the  law,  this  righteousness  would  have  been  imputable 
to  all  mankind.  This  law  Jesus  Christ  actually  ful- 
filled, and  produced  its  perfect  righteousness.  But  the 
righteousness  which  the  law  required,  was  a  righteous- 
ness capable  of  being  imputed  to  every  human  being; 
consequently  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ  is  ca- 
pable of  being  imputed  to  every  man.  If  he  had  not 
produced  a  righteousness  capable  of  saving  every  man 
under  the  law,  he  would  not  have  produced  the  righte- 
ousness of  the  law.     Of  consequence,  the  imputability 


65 

of  Christ^s  righteousness,  springs  entirely  from  the  na- 
ture of  the  covenant  of  works.  I  call  this  demonstra- 
tion unassailable !  v  <•       / ;     v         ^ 

The  provisions  of  the  covenant  of  grace  have  nothing 
to  rlo  with  this  subject.  To  whom  God  will  eventual- 
ly bestow  this  righteousness — how  many  he  will  give 
to  his  Son,  as  the  travail  of  his  soul,  are  questions  for 
them  to  settle  among  tliemselves.  They  may  do  wiiat 
they  will  with  their  own.  Let  no  man  presume  to 
juestion  them  !  But  the  righteousness  of  the  law  of 
works  is  capable  of  saving  all  mankind.  If  Jesus 
Christ  had  not  represented  a  single  human  creature, 
still  his  righteousness  would  have  been  what  it  is,  the 
righteousness  of  the  law.  If  he  had  represented  the 
whole,  still  his  righteousness  would  not  have  been  any 
thing  else  than  what  it  is,  the  righteousness  of  the  law. 
Should  all  men  reject  it,  it  would  still  be  the  righte- 
ousness of  the  law  that  they  rejected  ;  and  should  all 
men  accept  it,  it  would  be  nothing  more  than  the  righte- 
ousness of  the  law.  It  was  not  the  representative  cha- 
racter of  Jesus  in  the  covenant  of  grace,  but  the  repre- 
sentative character  of  Adam  in  the  covenant  of  works, 
that  rendered  the  righteousness  of  that  law  capable  of 
being  imputed  to  mankind. 

And  now,  reader,  I  have  finished  my  demonstration, 
and  do  honestly  believe,  that  I  have  proved  that  the 
imputability  of  Christ's  righteousness  does  not  depend 
in  any  manner,  nor  i  any  degree,  on  his  representa- 
tive character  in  the  covenant.  And  it  would,  per- 
haps, be  doing  thee  no  disservice  to  leave  thy  difficul- 
ty to  be  solved  by  thy  own  ingenuity.  Yet  I  shall 
just  touch  it  with  the  wand  of  truth,  to  enfeeble  it  a  lit- 
tle ;  it  is  not  with  the  trouble  of  dissection. 

The  reason  why  Adam's  merit  or  demerit  was  im- 

K 


66 

putable,  by  reason  of  his  representative  character — 
and  why  the  iuiputability  of  Christ's  ng'^ieousness  does 
not  depend  on  his  representative  cbas  acter,  is  this : 
the  former  was  an  original  institute— ihe  latter  a  re- 
medial law. 

Mr.  M^C.  will  understand  me.  He  once  studied 
law ;  and  has  enriched  our  ecclesiastical  vocabulary 
with  (what  it  could  well  have  spared)  a  new  word  horn 
that  source.  He  can  turn  to  his  Blackstone,  or  any 
other  elementary  legal  philosopher^  on  the  nature  of 
remedial  statutes.  He  will  find  the  following  to  be  the 
amount  of  the  doctrine.  An  original  law  establishes 
its  own  principle  :  and  the  covenant  of  works  esta- 
blishes its  principle,  that  the  righteousness  of  Adam, 
or  his  guilt,  should  be  transmissible  to  all  mankind.  I 
say  this  representative  principle  was  established  by  the 
covenant  of  works,  and  by  it  alone.  I  have  already 
discussed  that  covenant,  and  shall  not  repeat  my  ob- 
servations.    Mr.  M'C.  thinks  otherwise. — Page  26. 

^^  And,  now,  in  what  column  of  this  array  do  you  find 
any  other  connecting  principle  than  the  one  which  I 
avowed?  We  were  told,  indeed,  by  Mr.  Craig,  when 
this  matter  was  discussed,  that  the  covenant  itself  is  the 
bond  of  union. — That  is,  in  plain  English,  the  cove- 
nant of  works  is  the  bond  of  the  covenant  of  works. 
Now  I  should  have  supposed  that  the  covenant  of 
works  was  the  bond  wlwch  united  together  the  Creator 
and  the  creature  in  a  covenant  relation ;  and  I  should 
have  imagined,  that  to  say  so,  however  orthodox  the 
sentiment,  would  have  been  to  assert  a  mere  truism 
which  nobody  need  repeat.  But  the  question  is  not, 
what  biuds  humanity  in  a  covenant  relation  with  God? 
But,  what  binds  all  the  human  rare  together  ?  What 
is  it  that  identifies  them  with  Adam^  their  common 


67 

head,  so  as  to  render  them  one  with  him  in  the  relation 
in  which  he  stood  to  God  ?  I  have  named  natural  ge- 
neration as  the  bond  ;  your  Confession  and  catechisms 
conspire  to  name  it  frequently ;  and  they  name  no 
other.  This  your  Presbyter}-  have  noted  as  a  heresy; 
and  T  call  upon  this  Synod  to  chastise  their  error." 

There  is  a  little  good  humoured  superciliousness  in 
this  passage,  arising  from  too  great  security  respecting 
the  strength  of  his  fortress.  It  turns  out,  however,  in 
this  case,  that  Mr.  Craig  was  the  philosopher.  I  have 
proved  that  Mr.  M^C's.  principle  of  union  is  siiadowy, 
but  I  cannot  dilate  :  I  pledge  myself,  liowever,  to 
prove,  on  a  moment's  notice,  that  the  natural  relations 
of  man,  and  their  moral  obligation,  though  exact  cor- 
relates, are  distinct  systems.  1  sliall  show  you  every 
natural  relation,  without  its  correlate  moral  obligation; 
and  every  moral  obligation  without  its  correlate  na- 
tural relation. 

The  covenant  of  grace,  on  the  contrary,  was  a  re- 
medial law.  If  the  principle  of  a  law  be  found  wrong, 
or  totally  useless,  through  some  change  in  the  state  of 
society,  the  statute  is  abolished.  But  if  the  principle 
of  the  law  be  good  and  useful,  and  yet  its  operation 
injurious,  by  reason  of  some  change  in  society,  a  reme- 
dial statute  is  introduced ;  which  always  allows  the 
principle  of  the  original  law  to  continue  in  all  its  ori- 
ginal and  unmodified  force  :  and  provides  a  remedy 
against  the  evils,  and  means  to  secure  all  the  good  ef- 
fects of  the  original  institute. 

Now,  the  principle  of  the  law  of  works  was,  that  its 
righteousness  wrought  out  by  an  individual,  siiould  be 
transmissible  to  all  other  individuals.  This  principle 
is  not  once  touched,  changed,  or  modified  by  the  cove- 
nant of  grace. 


i5S 

But,  owini^  to  a  change  in  the  state  of  society,  this 
principle  must  have  produced  the  most  tremendous  ef- 
fects ;  it  would  liave  left  God  without  a  worshipper 
among  a  whole  race  of  rational  creatures  ;  and  would 
have  entailed  wrath  and  destruction  on  every  creature 
that  ever  should  come  under  the  law.  This  is  the  evil 
to  bo  remedied  by  the  remedial  law.  Let  us  see  by 
what  means  it  is  effected. 

1.  A  new  covenant  head  must  be  found,  and  he  must 
possess  human  nature,  because  the  covenant  was  made 
for  human  nature  ;  but  he  must  not  be  a  human  per- 
son,  because  every  human  person  under  that  covenant  is 
condemned  to  death  on  his  own  account.  But  ^^  O  the 
depth  of  the  riches,  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge 
of  Grod — how  unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and  his 
ways  past  finding  out."  He  sees  that  his  own  Son, 
uniting  himself  to  human  nature,  and  voluntarily  plac- 
ing himself  under  the  broken  law  of  the  covenant  of 
works,  could  fulfil  its  rigliteousuess,  which  must  be  a 
transmissible  righteousness. 

3.  It  is  determined  that  a  seed,  definite  in  number, 
and  known  to  both  parties  by  name,  shall  be  brought 
to  him  by  the  father,  and  become  heirs  of  this  righte- 
ousness, and  of  the  life  which  is  its  reward  :  these  the 
father  promises  ;  and  these  Jesus  accepts  as  the  travail 
of  his  soul. 

3.  Power  over  all  flesh,  yea,  power  over  the 
whole  universe  is  given  to  the  Son  of  God,  that  he  may 
give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  the  Father  hath  given 
him. 

This  is  the  remedial  covenant  ;  The  condition  of  it 
was,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the  Son  of  God  should  fulfil 
the  broken  covenant  of  works — and  on  the  other,  that 
he  should  receive  the  elect  as  his  reward — And  power 


69 

over  the  universe,  that  he  may  collect  these  beloved 
objects  at  the  respective  times  agreed  upon  by  him  and 
and  his  Father.  Now  it  has  always  been  customary 
to  consider  Jesus  as  bearing  a  relation  to  those  elected 
ones,  which  he  does  not  bear  to  the  non-elect ;  as 
knowing  them,  delighting  in  them,  coming  into  the 
world  to  save  them  ;  while  no  such  language  is  used 
of  the  others.  The  texts  are  not  rightly  interpreted, 
which  are  brought  to  prove  that  he  knew  all  men 
alike  as  his  from  all  eternity,  loved  all  alike,  and  came 
into  the  world  with  the  design  of  bringing  them  all  to 
glory. 

The  reader,  by  turning  to  page  43,  will  find  me 
pledged  to  put  down  the  spectre  of  imaginary  repre- 
sentation, on  its  own  proper  field.  This  is  that  field. 
The  two  covenants  have  been  viewed  as  distinct  ori- 
ginal institutions  of  similar  parts,  and  propoitions,  and 
something  must  be  looked  for  in  the  one  exactly  simi- 
lar to  what  is  in  the  other  ;  and  hence  as  Adam's 
guilt  is  imputable,  because  of  his  representation,  so  of 
course  must  Christ's  righteousness  be  imputable,  in 
consequence  of  his  representation.  But  the  former 
covenant  only  is  an  original  institution  ;  and  there- 
fore its  radical  principle  must  be  peculiar  to  itself, 
and  must  be  supposed,  not  enacted  in  the  remedial 
law. 

Mr.  M*C  has  now  the  means  put  into  liis  hands  of 
disabusing  himself  of  a  mistake  which  must  have  given 
him  a  prodigious  deal  of  trouble.  And  perhaps  I 
might  safely  trust  the  matter  to  his  own  industry.  But 
knowing,  as  I  do,  the  strong  parental  storge  that 
throbs  and  yearns  in  the  bosom  over  those  children 
of  the  brain,  how  we  admire  their  every  feature,  mark 
their  bone  and  muscle,  anticipate  their  future  achieve- 


70 

ments,  live  over  our  life  again  in  theirs,  and  enjoy  the 
inchanting  dream  of  immortality  on  earth  :  when  I 
reflect  that  in  no  case,  are  those  feelings  more  justifia- 
ble, more  amiable,  and  more  admirable,  than  when  a 
minister  of  the  gospel  verily  believes  that  he  has  dis- 
covered an  idea,  which  will,  in  some  future  day,  ena- 
ble many  a  troubled  preacher  to  expound  many  a  text ; 
which  will  quench  the  fiery  darts  of  the  devil  in  many 
a  wounded  conscience  ;  which  will  hammer  down  the 
towers  of  error,  that  overlook  the  walls  of  our  Jerusa- 
lem ;  when  I  consider  all  these  things  ;  and  that  se- 
veral others  are  beginning  to  contract  a  fondness  for 
this  smiling  and  promising  babe,  I  beg  to  be  indulged 
in  a  little  more  slow  and  cool  investigation  of  its  me- 
rits. 

Such  investigation  has  satisfied  me,  that  this  is  a 
mere  metaphysical  deception,  and  that,  like  all  such, 
it  is  at  bottom  only  a  word,  without  auy  real  meaning, 
and  therefore  just  fit  to  pick  up  with  some  stroll  of  er- 
ror on  the  first  occasion. 

Let  us  again  tread  metaphysical  ground.  It  is  very 
true  that  Adam  represented  his  own  person  ;  and  that 
we  then  existed  substantially.  But  T  apprehend  that 
this  is  true  only  in  respect  to  these  mortal  bodies  : 
begging  pardon  of  the  physiologists  for  trespassing 
on  their  grounds,  I  must  deny  that  our  souls  existed  in 
Adam  in  any  sense.  M^^  soul  refuses  to  acknowledge  any 
father  but  the  Creator  of  angels  and  of  men,*  the  Grod 
and  Father  of  Jesus  Christ.  How  little  then  did  actual- 
ly exist  in  Adam,  only  the  germs  of  these  animal  struc- 
tures ;  how  much  have  we  by  natural  generation  from 
him,  only  the  germs  of  these  animal  structures,  miris 

*  An^uili  iimle  o  Ta???,  or  something  like  it,  says  Homer. 


71 

in  modis  ;  but  soon  to  be  a  feast  to  the  worms.  And 
this  is  another  proof  that  I  did  not  decide  erroneously, 
that  it  is  not  natural  generation  that  is  the  bond  of  our 
union  to  Adam  in  the  covenant — for  on  that  supposi- 
tion he  could  have  represented  only  our  bodies,  our 
souls  he  could  not  represent ;  and  then,  on  the  one 
hand,  bodies  without  souls  were  not  worth  represent- 
ing, and  were  incapable  of  either  guilt  or  righteousness 
— And,  on  the  other,  our  souls  are  perfectly  free  from 
Adam's  guilt,  have  no  interest  in  Christ's  righteous- 
ness, never  were  under  the  law  of  works,  nor  the  law  of 
grace,  nor  any  other  moral  law.  It  is  therefore  a  mere 
figure  to  say,  we  substantially  existed  in  Adam.  I 
grant  that  it  is  a  fair  figure,  for  the  Scriptures  use  it; 
there  was  a  material  unity  established  by  the  law  of 
creation,  between  our  bodies  and  his — And  there  was 
a  moral  unity  established  between  our  souls  and  his, 
by  the  law  of  the  covenant.  It  is,  therefore,  only  figu- 
ratively true  that  we  all  substantially  existed  in  Adam, 
that  we  all  are  no  more  than  Adam  evolved.  The 
proper  use  of  figurative  language  should  be  known. 

By  figurative  language  only  can  mental  conceptions 
or  general  ideas  be  conveyed  to  human  beings.  The 
philosophy  of  the  human  mind  has  already  reached  to 
such  a  degree  of  maturity,  that  we  might  expect  tiiat 
a  system  of  theology  would  not  be  founded  on  mistak- 
ing a  figurative  term.  Yet  true  it  is,  that  the  new  sys- 
tem is  nothing  less  or  more,  than  a  mistaken  figure  of 
speech.  I  repeat  it  again,  we  did  not  substantially 
exist  in  Adam,  (using  the  literal  sense  of  the  phrase) 
for  our  souls  did  not  exist  in  him,  and  therefore 
we  were  not  represented  by  him,  because  we  exist- 
ed in  him  substantially.  And  O,  that  I  had  time  to 
prove,  what  I  have  time  only  to  throw  out,  probabjy  to 


7S 

be  knocked  about  as  a  paradox,  I  should  prove  that  the 
moral  system  of  our  race  was  not  made  for  the  natural, 
but  the  natural  for  the  moral.  If  the  reader  can  make 
any  thing  of  this,  it  is  at  his  service,  if  not,  he  can  let 
it  alone. 

Let  me  then  go  on  to  consider  Mr.  M^C.'s  idea,  of 
the  representation  of  the  Son  of  God.  And  here  he  has 
not  even  a  mathematical  point  to  stand  on.  The  de- 
ception which  has  been  eflPected  on  his  understanding 
by  his  imagination,  is  of  the  most  extraordinary  kind. 
We  are  all  represented  by  Christ  when  we  believe ; 
because  we,  in  fact,  are  one  with  him  ;  and  nothing 
more  than  Christ  evolved.  How  ?  Did  any  one  hu- 
man being  ever  derive  a  particle  of  his  body  from  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  Did  ever  one  human  soul  become 
a  part  of  the  soul  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  day  of  effec- 
tual vocation  ?  Are  either  our  souls  or  our  bodies  a 
part  of  the  divine  nature  of  Jesus  Christ?  Not  at  all  ! 
The  conception  of  such  an  idea  is  impossible.  And 
yet  the  Scriptures  say  we  are  one  with  Christ,  and 
they  use  the  only  language  by  which  the  idea  can  be 
expressed.  But  let  us,  avoiding  all  hard  terms,  ascer- 
tain how  much  we  really  know  of  this  unity  ;  that  we 
may  know  by  what  name  to  call  it,  and  how  to  inter- 
pret it. 

God  elected  men  to  eternal  life,  and  promised  them 
to  him  as  the  travail  of  his  soul :  they  w  ere  therefore 
one  with  him  in  the  covenant  relation ;  according  to 
the  sovereign  will,  and  solemn  sanction  of  the  high 
contracting  partias. 

God  imputes  his  Son's  righteousness  to  them,  and 
then  they  are  one  with  him,  being  equally  justified 
by  the  law  of  works.  And  yet  in  this  case  there  is 
this  remarkable  difference,  that  though  Jesus  pur- 


78 

cliased  a  pardon  and  Iieaven  for  them,  he  did  not  pur- 
cha*;e  either  for  himself. 

(rod  seinls  his  Holy  Spirit  to  work  upon  their  hearts 
—He  shoH  8  them  that  Jesus  Christ  is  willing  to  save 
then*,  he  in^jilres  them  with  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  iills 
them  with  love  to  him  and  to  his  Father,  and  to  righte- 
ousness. They  are  one  with  him  in  moral  righteous- 
ness. 

Anil  as  they  wish  to  be  near  him,  they  all  offer  him 
their  service.  Their  first  cry  is,  can  I  render  thee  any 
service  ?  What  siiall  I  render  to  my  Lord  for  all  his 
love  ?  The  elotjuent  offers  his  tongue,  the  learned  his 
pen,  the  rich  his  purse,  his  house,  and  his  all,  the 
brave  offers  his  gvvord  to  defend  the  sacred  ark,  for 
even  military  courage  may  be  sanctified  into  a  christian 
grace.  And  when  they  cannot  serve  him  by  action, 
why  then  they  offer  themselves  to  suffer  for  him  :  they 
present  themselves  to  hunger  and  nakedness,  to  penu- 
ry and  toil,  to  reproach  and  shame,  to  slander  and 
scorn  ;  they  offer  themselves  to  the  chains  of  dungeons, 
and  to  the  contortions  of  the  shameful  tree  ;  they  of- 
fer themselves  to  be  torn  by  wild  beasts,  to  be  tortured 
by  racks,  to  be  sawn  asunder,  to  be  burned  as  candle- 
wicks.  If  they  cannot  have  action,  they  will  have  suf- 
fering in  his  cause  ;  that  they  may  demonstrate  that 
his  love  is  better  than  life  to  them  ;  and  exhibit  to 
mankind  the  more  than  angelic  majesty  of  a  spirit  pu- 
rified by  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God. 

But  is  there  in  all  this  any  thing  more  than  a  mere 
moral  or  spiritural  unity.  I  know  perfectly  what  you 
mean,  when  you  tell  me  of  two  friends  that  they  have 
but  one  soul.  I  know  all  about  it :  I  can  conceive  a 
common  love,  confidence,  interest :  already  I  see  them 
engaged  in  the  same  cause,  rushing  into  the  same  dan- 

L 


n 

ger,  and  breathing  out  their  souls  together  on  the  same 
field  of  battle.  You  have  told  me  a  volume  in  a  me- 
taphor. 0  call  me  not  to  metaphysical  abstractions, 
to  let  me  know  in  what  exact  manner  their  two  souls 
were  melted,  or  glewed  into  one.  And  it  is  as  absurd  to 
undertalie  to  show  christians  are  literally  one  with 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  prove  that  thousands  were  actually 
melted  into  one  soul.  I  tell  you  again  there  is  not  one 
drop  of  Jesus's  bodily  blood  in  one  of  his  saints,  there 
is  not  a  particle  of  his  rational  soul  in  one  of  them, 
and  here  too  I  must  use  a  metaphor  ;  and  1  must  have 
the  use  of  another  metaphor  to  say  there  is  not  a  parti- 
cle of  his  divinity  in  one  of  them. 

I  tell  you  there  is  no  such  thing.  1  tell  you  it  is  all 
a  metaphor  and  nothing  else  than  a  metaphor.  And 
the  whole  system  is,  and  ever  will  be,  nothing  more 
than  a  Pyrrhei  dance  of  military  metaphors,  armed 
for  battle,  and  dancing  on  to  the  charge.  I  do  not  say 
these  things  with  a  single  atom  of  triumphant  or  exult- 
ing feeling  ;  the  man  who  detects  such  errors  forfeits 
all  claim  to  a  triumph  over  his  antagonist — For  he 
never  would  have  detected  them,  if  he  had  not  6nce 
been  guilty  of  them. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  treating  subjects  which  are  the 
deep  things  of  God;  the  divine  nature,  persons,  perfec- 
tions, and  government ;  the  things  of  the  eternal  world; 
the  employments  and  operations  of  an2;els  and  arch- 
angels ;  the  station  in  reserve  for  man,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  is  to  be  conducted  there  ;  are  under  & 
necessity  of  dealing  largely  in  metaphors,  in  order  to 
give  men  of  dust  and  clay  any  ideas  at  all  of  such  su- 
blime themes. 

On  no  subject  are  metaphors  more  profusely  poured 


75 

out,  than  on  the  moral  or  spiritual  unity  between  Jesus 
and  his  people. 

He  is  a  vine,  and  they  are  the  branches  ;  he  is  the 
foundation  stone,  and  they  are  built  on  him  into  a  holy 
temple.  He  is  their  brother,  their  redeemer,  their 
master,  their  prophet,  their  priest,  their  king  :  when  the 
church  is  represented  as  a  bride,  then  he  becomes  the 
bridegroom.  And  if  the  human  body  be  chosen  as  the 
object  of  figurative  meaning,  of  course  he  must  be  the 
head,  and  they  the  members.  All  these  metaphors 
express  a  real  unity  ;  and  fall  very  far  short  of  the 
amount  of  that  unity.  What  man  would  attempt  to  find 
a  literal  resemblance  between  any  one  of  them  and  the 
thing  signified  by  them  all.  There  is  however,  one 
metaphor,  and  only  one  in  all  the  Bible,  which  rises 
above  thesublimity  of  this  unity;  and  the  reason  is, that 
there  is  but  one  more  sublime  thing  within  the  range  of 
infinite  intelligence.  The  metaphor  alluded  to  is  this  : 
lin  them,  and  they  in  me,  that  they  may  be  one  in  us. 
The  union  of  persons  in  the  Sacred  Trinity  is  employ- 
ed to  illustrate  the  unity  of  believers  with  their  Sa- 
viour. But  the  metaphor  far  excels  the  object  illus- 
trated. For  the  Son  of  God  possesses  the  very  sub- 
stance, perfection,  and  glory  of  the  Father,  by  eternal 
and  necessary  generation  ;  but  believers  are  not  at  all 
possessed  of  the  very  nature  of  God,  or  of  his  perfec- 
tions and  glory  ;  though  they  do  possess  perfections 
and  glory  of  their  own,  bearing  some  resemblance  to 
his. 

I  have  now  examined  Mr.  M'Chord's  Theory  of 
Representation,  and  do  solemnly  assure  him,  that  it 
never  will  do  all,  or  any  one  of  the  many  good  tilings 
he  has  laid  out  for  it  to  do  :  nay,  that  it  never  will,  and 
never  can  do  any  good  of  any  kind:  as  it  consists  intirely 


76 

of  a  misunderstood  metaphor.  But  it  may  very  possibly 
do  a  great  deal  of  harm.  By  unhinging  the  estal'.lish- 
ed  religious  vocabulary,  it  unhinges  the  ideas  express- 
ed by  words  of  well  known  meaning.  By  introducing 
a  new  mode  of  speech  it  will  introduce  endless  strifes 
and  confusions  of  words,  and  by  introducing  a  false 
principle  it  will  probably  terminate  in  the  denial  of  the 
atonement.  Never  once  has  that  false  principle  got  ia 
a  creed  without  doing  mischief;  and  its  direction  in 
this  system  is  towards  Socinianism.  Your  bomb-shell 
has  fallen  in  the  midst  of  us,  and  the  fuse  is  blazing, 
let  us  try  to  put  it  out  :  it  cannot  explode  without  do- 
ing who  knows  what  damage. 

And  now  as  this  scheme  is  purposely  devised  to 
vindicate  the  moral  perfections  of  Jehovah  in  respect 
to  the  universality  of  the  gospel  call,  let  us  proceed 
to  that  subject. 


'  SECTION  VII. 

Of  the  Universality  of  the  Gospel  Call. 

1.  The  authority  which  the  gospel  minister  has  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,  or  to  any  creature, 
is  the  command  of  his  master :  "  Go  ye  therefore  and 
teach  all  nations  ;  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost:  teach- 
ing them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  com- 
manded you."  To  preach  the  gospel,  is  to  preach  it 
as  a  system  enforced  by  divine  authority,  commanding 
submission  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  under  the 
pain  of  eternal  death  ;  and  with  a  promise  of  eternal 
life,  to  all  who  shall  hear  it.     The  philosophy  of  the 


77 

system,  and  it  has  its  philosophy,  is  another  affair. 
Every  christian  must  have  sometimes  been  sensible  of 
an  indescribable  majesty  and  authority  in  the  preacher 
who  proclaims  the  gospel,  solely  as  the  word  of  God  ; 
commanding  submission  in  his  name.  This  1  presume 
is  what  is  meant  by  preaching  it,  not  with  the  enticing 
words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in  the  demonstration  of 
the  spirit  and  with  power. 

I  beg  the  readers  acceptance  of  the  following  anec- 
dote, from  Cave's  Life  of  Athanasius. 

"  The  bishops,  before  they  formally  met  in  the  solemn 
council,^  spent  some  days  in  preliminary  discourses 
and  disputations;!  wherein  they  were  attacked  by  cer- 
tain philosophers ;  men  versed  in  subtilties,  and  the 
arts  of  reasoning,  whom  either  curiosity  had  drawn 
thither,  or,  as  some  suspect,  Arius  had  brought  along 
with  him,  to  plead  his  cause,  and  to  retard  and  entan- 
gle the  proceedings  of  the  Synod.  One  of  which,  prid- 
ing himself,  in  the  neatness  and  elegancy  of  his  dis- 
courses, reflected  with  scorn  upon  the  fathers  of  the 
council.  A  piece  of  insolence  so  intolerable,  that  an 
ancient  confessor,  then  in  the  company,  a  man  plain, 
and  unskilled  in  the  tricks  and  methods  of  disputing, 
not  being  able  to  bear  it,  offered  himself  to  undertake 
him.  For  which  he  was  laughed  at  by  some,  while 
others  more  modest  and  serious,  feared  what  would  be 
the  success  of  his  entering  the  lists  with  so  able  and 
famed  a  disputant.  The  good  man,  however,  went  on 
with  his  resolution,  and  bluntly  accosted  his  adversary 
in  this  manner.     *  In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  philo- 

*  Council  of  Nice. 

t  Even  in  the  olden  time,  grave  bishops  could  find  leisure  to 
trifle,  when  they  had  very  weighty  business  on  hand. 


78 

gopher,  give  ear.  There  is  one  God,  maker  of  heaven 
anfJ  earth,  and  of  all  things  visible  and  invisible,  who 
created  all  these  things  by  the  power  of  his  word,  and 
ratifies  them  hy  the  sanctity  of  his  holy  spirit.  This 
word,  which  we  call  the  Son  of  God,  pitying  the  apos- 
tacy  and  brutish  state  of  mankind,  condescended  to  be 
born  of  a  woman,  to  dwell  amongst  men,  and  to  die  for 
them  ;  who  shall  come  again  to  sit  as  judge  upon  what- 
ever we  do  in  this  life.  These  things  we  plainly  be- 
lieve. Strive  not,  therefore,  to  no  purpose,  to  endea- 
vour the  confutation  of  what  we  entertain  by  faith,  or 
to  find  out  how  these  things  may,  or  may  not  be  ;  but 
answer  me  if  thou  dost  believe.'  The  philosopher, 
astonished  and  thunderstruck  with  the  zeal  and  plain- 
ness of  the  old  man's  discourse,  answered  that  he  did 
believe  ;  and  thanking  that  conqueror  that  overcame 
bim,  yielded  up  himself  to  his  sentiments  and  opinions, 
persuading  his  companions  to  do  the  like  ;  solemnly 
affirming,  that  it  was  by  an  unspeakable  power,  and 
not  without  immediate  direction  from  heaven,  that  he 
was  brought  over  to  be  a  christian." 

2.  The  authority  of  Jesus  to  give  such  a  commission, 
was  the  commandment  of  his  Father,  who  gave  his  Son 
power  over  all  flesh,  that  he  might  give  eternal  life  to 
as  many  as  were  given  him :  for  as  he  says  himself, 
(this  commandment  received  I  of  my  Father).  For  I 
came  not  to  do  my  own  will,  but  the  will  of  him  that 
sent  me. 

3.  And  now  the  question  comes  up,  where  was  the 
candour,  where  was  the  truth,  where  was  the  justice  of 
Jehovah,  in  calling  on  all  mankind  to  believe  on  his 
Son.  *• 


SECTION  VIII. 

Gospel  Call, 

Let  us  now  examine  if  the  new  system  justifies  the 
moral  attributes  of  Jehovah,  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  in 
commanding  all  men  to  believe. 

And  here  we  meet  with  something  so  extraordinary, 
that  I  am  afraid  I  shall  be  accused  of  employing  one 
of  the  artifices  of  controversy  in  mentioning  it.  But 
certain  it  is,  that  this  is  the  only  system  that  ever  was 
broached  on  the  subject,  which  does  not  authorize  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  command  a  single  sinner  to  be- 
lieve on  him.  Reader,  such  is  the  fact ;  and  thou 
shalt  he  convinced  of  it. 

The  hypothesis  is,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  at  the  head 
Gf  a  system,  which  consists  of  himself,  and  all  those 
who  are  vitally  united  to  him  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Now, 
such  a  system  does  authorize  him  to  display  all  his 
grace — to  exercise  all  his  authority  over  all  those  who 
are  thus  united  to  him.  But  does  it  authorize  him  to 
go  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  kingdom  ;  and  beat  up 
for  recruits  in  other  lands,  under  other  governments? 
It  does  not. 

Let  me  use  an  illustration  which  Mr.  M'C.  has  em- 
ployed for  another  purpose.  The  government  of  the 
United  States  has  a  right  to  govern  its  own  citi- 
zens ;  admit  also,  that  it  has  a  right  to  naturalize  ;  ad- 
mit farther,  that  keeping  within  its  own  territory,  it  has 
a  right  to  invite  the  citizens  of  other  governments  to 
come  and  enjoy  the  blessings  of  this  nation.  And  I 
believe  this  is  the  extent  of  its  rights  in  the  case.     But 


80 

has  it  a  right  to  send  out  agents  into  other  lands,  to 
preach  rebellion  against  other  governments — to  com- 
mand all  men  in  every  country  to  forsake  all  that  they 
have,  and  to  remove  into  the  United  States;  threatening 
that  if  this  command  is  disobeyed,  the  United  States 
will  send  a  great  array,  cut  them  all  to  pieces,  and  re- 
duce all  they  have  to  ashes.  Is  this  totally  unwarrant- 
ed by  the  essential  principles  of  government  ?  Then 
I  ask  if  Jesus  Christ  be  only  the  head  of  actual  be- 
lievers, what  is  there  in  such  a  system,  to  authorize 
him  to  command  all  sinners,  under  pain  of  eternal 
death,  to  accept  his  salvation  ?  If  he  has  such  autho- 
rity, it  is  not  provided  for  in  Mr.  M'Chord's  system. 

There  is  a  great  diiference  in  many  respects,  be- 
tween the  covenants  of  works  and  grace  :  there  is  an 
analogy  between  them  ;  but  analogies  do  not  prevent 
great  and  essential  differences.  The  covenant  of  works 
covers  the  whole  ground  of  our  animal  nature  ;  so  that 
wherever  it  finds  men,  it  finds  subjects.  >Jot  so  vtith 
the  covenant  of  grace  :  all  its  subjects  are  enlisted  at 
the  drum  head  of  the  captain  of  their  salvation.  Now 
I  want  to  know  what  authority  the  new  system  gives 
to  the  Lord  Jesus  to  beat  up  for  such  recruits  ? 

Perhaps  the  answer  may  be,  that  regeneration  in  the 
new  covenant,  is  the  point  which  analogizes  with  ge- 
neration in  the  old,  and  that  Jesus  Christ  has  a  right  to 
assume  authority  over  all  that  are  born  of  the  spirit — 
true !  But  what  authority  had  he  over  them  before 
they  were  born  of  the  spirit  ?  And  what  authority  can 
he  have  over  those  who  are  never  born  of  the  spirit. 
Some  systems  have  made  no  provision  for  preaching 
the  gospel  to  the  unelected  ;  but  this  system  has  made 
no  provision  for  preaching  it  to  the  unconverted,  whe- 
ther elected  or  not.     Thus  at  every  test  it  fails  ! 


81 


SECTION  IX. 

Of  the  Capaciousness  of  the  Two  Covenants. 

Mr.  M^C.  has,  for  some  cause  or  other,  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  prove,  in  considerable  detail,  that  the  cove- 
nant of  works,  in  its  own  nature,  and  without  any  re- 
spect to  the  limiting  will  of  God,  is  capable  of  compre- 
hending millions  of  millions  of  men,  for  every  indivi- 
dual of  the  human  family  destined  to  exist  by  the  sove- 
reign decree  of  God.  And  that  the  covenant  of  grace, 
in  its  own  nature,  and  without  reference  to  any  limit- 
ing decree  of  God,  would  be  capable  of  granting  sal- 
vation to  the  whole  of  all  these  millions,  supposing 
them  all  to  have  fallen  from  innocence  as  we  have. 
He  also  argues  out  the  same  principle  in  relation  to 
human  laws  and  constitutions.  And  he  might,  if  he 
chose,  have  added,  that  this  is  essential  to  the  nature 
of  all  laws  of  every  kind.  The  proportionality  of  four 
numbers  remains  tJie  same,  though  you  should  multiply 
each  of  them  by  millions.  A  triangle  which  you  could 
cover  with  your  thumb,  has  the  same  parts,  laws  and 
proportions,  with  a  similar  triangle,  which  could  take 
the  solar  system  in  its  bosom.  Were  our  globe  tea 
times  as  large  as  it  is,  the  principle  of  attraction  would 
keep  its  particles  together ;  its  revolutions  on  its  axis 
would  give  us  day  and  night ;  and  were  every  orb  in 
the  solar  system,  ten  times  as  large  as  it  is,  there  would 
be  no  alteration  in  the  astronomy  of  the  J^stem.  And 
new  editions  of  the  abstract  principles  of  the  astrono- 
mers of  our  little  world,  would  be  published  for  the  use 
of  schools,  in  the  mammoth  world  we  are  speaking  of. 

M 


If  Mr.  M^Chord  found  himself  in  circumstances  that 
obliged  him  to  prov^  that  every  law  possesses  this  pro- 
perty of  infinity,  or  in  other  words,  that  a  law  is  a  law, 
I  do  sincerely  pity  him ;  and,  to  use  a  phrase  of  his 
own,  think  he  might  have  been  excused  "  so  inglorious 
an  achievement.'' 

He  is  also  perfectly  right  in  asserting  that  created 
objects  must  necessarily  be  finite  in  number  ;  and  that 
the  number  of  Adam's  descendants  are  definite,  the 
number  to  be  affected  by  his  covenant  definitely  fixed 
by  God  ;  and  also  that  the  number  to  be  affected  by 
the  covenant  of  grace,  is  definitely  fixed  by  the  same 
God.  And,  therefore,  since  there  is  not  only  no  contra- 
diction, but  no  indistinctness  of  idea  on  these  subjects, 
we  may  proceed  to  another  subject,  for  our  object  is 
not  controversy,  but  investigation. 


SECTION  X 

Of  the  Individualising  System, 

It  was  with  some  difficulty  that  I  could  comprehend 
what  Mr.  M^C.  could  mean,  by  saying  individuals 
were  not  included  in  either  of  the  covenants — that  men 
were  not  individually  included  ;  and  by  calling  such  a 
conception  the  individualising  scheme.  But  on  compar- 
ing several  passages  together ;  and  finding  him  very 
precise  in  proving  that  Adam's  sin  was  not  such,  that 
being  cut  up  into  so  many  parcels,  as  that  each  would 
suffice  to  dJmn  an  individual,  there  would  be  nothing 
more  left ;  and  no  more  posterity  of  course  born  to  him ; 
but  that  the  whole  of  his  guilt  descends  entire  to  each 
individual ;  that  the  guilt  which  damns  one  man,  is 


83 

sufficient  for  the  condemnation  of  every  individual  of 
the  human  family  ;  and  would  be  sufficient  to  condemn 
the  whole  human  family,  from  the  first  man  to  the  last, 
though  every  unit  in  its  millions  were  multiplied  by  as 
many  millions  more.  And  when,  on  the  other  hand, 
I  found  him  proving  that  the  sins  of  every  elect  indi- 
vidual were  not  thrown  into  a  common  heap,  and  im- 
puted to  Christ  Jesus  ;  and  that  Jesus  Christ  did  not 
make  such  atonement,  that  being  divided  into  parcels, 
each  parcel  would  suffice  to  wash  out  the  sins  of  an 
elect  soul ;  that  he  did  not  work  out  such  a  righteous- 
ness, as  being  divided  into  so  many  parcels,  each 
parcel  would,  on  imputation,  save  an  elect  soul,  and 
then  he  could  save  no  more.  But,  that  on  the  con- 
trary, it  would  require  the  same  atonement  and  righte- 
ousness to  save  one  man,  as  to  save  all  men  ;  that  the 
righteousness  of  Christ  Jesus  goes  whole  and  entire  to 
every  believer ;  and  that  the  same  righteousness  is  suf- 
ficient  to  save  all  the  millions  of  the  human  family, 
and  would  be  adequate  to  save  the  whole,  were  they 
as  many  more.  I  say  on  observing  all  this  ;  and  this 
is  the  exact  amount  of  all  he  has  said  on  the  subject,  I 
perceived  his  meaning.  And  I  did  regret  that  infelicity 
of  human  speech,  which  occasions  that  what  from  one 
man's  mouth  is  accepted  as  a  compliment,  should  from 
another  man's  mouth  cause  a  quarrel.  For  I  will  ven- 
ture to  assert,  that  Mr.  M'Chord  never  did  see  a  man 
mad  enough,  and  never  will  see  a  man  mad  enough,  in 
the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  or  out  of  it,  to  believe 
in  any  such  individualisation.  Nor  is  such  the  doc- 
trine of  any  man  in  the  Associate  Reformed  Church, 
or  in  the  United  States,  or  in  the  world  :  notwith- 
standing that  Mr.  M'C.  so  frequently  looking  his 
brethren  itt  the  face,  calls  this  "  your  individualising 


i 


84- 

scJieme.^^  Let  Mr.  M^C.  name  the  man  who  admitted 
the  imputation  of  Adam's  guilt,  and  who  charged  man- 
kind  with  less  than  the  Avhole  of  that  guilt !  What 
preacher  ever  told  his  hearers,  that  when  the  guilt  of 
Adam's  sin  is  divided  by  the  number  of  his  descend- 
ants, the  quotient  resulting  is  the  guilt  which  each  man 
must  answer  for !  What  preacher  ever  offered  the 
righleousness  of  Jesus  to  a  sinner,  as  the  ground  of  his 
hope,  and  did  not  offer  the  entire  righteousness  !  Who 
ever  told  his  hearers  that  when  Christ's  righteousness 
is  divided  by  the  number  of  the  elect,  the  quotient  re- 
sulting is  the  righteousness  to  which  the  believer  must 
trust  his  soul,  when  the  judge  of  all  the  earth  unsheaths 
Lis  flaming  sword,  and  seats  himself  on  the  tribunal ! 

W^hy  then  should  Mr.  M'Chord  call  this  your  indU 
vidualishig  scheme  ?  Will  he  say  it  is  the  conse- 
quence of  principles  which  you  admit  ?  I  assert  that 
even  that  would  not  render  it  oiivs.  If  the  consequen- 
ces of  every  opinion  were  charged  on  every  man  who 
holds  it,  I  do  not  doubt  that  every  error  that  ever 
was  in  the  christian  church  might  be  charged  on  every 
man  in  it.  But  what  we  reject,  what  we  abhor  is  not 
ours.  Divine  justice  will  never  call  it  ours — but  con- 
troversial justice — why  she  is  of  another  family. 

So  intirely  is  this  system  of  individualisation  a 
creature  of  Mr.  M'C.'s  own  brain,  that  I  do  not  re- 
collect ever  to  have  heard  of  it,  or  to  have  read  of  any 
thing  like  it.  If  ever  it  was  mentioned  before,  it  was 
mentioned  as  an  absurdity. 

Still  it  may  be  said,  that  this  absurdity  really  be- 
longs to  our  system^  though  it  may  not  belong  to  our- 
selves :  The  weakness  of  our  heads  has  secured  the 
innocence  of  our  hearts  ;  but  verily  our  logic  is  in 
fault :  and  that  if  we  could  only  reason  coiTectly;  we 


S5 

should  be  compellefl  either  to  swallow  the  conclusion, 
©r  give  up  the  principle.  Well  then,  let  us  close  once 
more,  and  let  us  be  cool. 

1.  We  believe,  and  say,  and  are  ready  to  prove, 
that  God  having  created  Adam,  did  enter  into  a  cove- 
nant with  him,  promising  to  grant  him,  on  a  specified 
condition,  life ;  and,  on  the  transgression  of  that  spe- 
cified condition,  threatening  him  with  death  :  which 
covenant  God  intended  should  include  every  human 
person  descending  from  Adam,  but  whether  this  inten- 
tifm  was  at  that  time  declared,  ice  say  not,  because  we 
know  not. 

S.  That  after  the  formation  of  Eve,  and  her  mar- 
riage with  .Adam,  and  the  pronunciation  of  the  bless- 
ing of  fruitfnlness  on  them  both,  we  presume  (though 
we  cannot  prove  the  fact  by  so  many  words  of  scripture,) 
that  Adam  was  informed  by  God,  that  the  covenant 
extended  not  only  to  himself,  but  to  Eve,  and  to  every 
human  -person  descending  from  them. 

3.  That  God  at  that  time  had  determined  in  his  own 
mind,  what,  and  how  many  human  persons  should  de- 
scend from  Adam  and  Eve  ;  and  at  what  time,  and  in 
what  circumstances  each  should  descend  ;  and  had  de- 
termined that  each  of  these  persons,  so  soon  as  he 
should  obtain  personality,  should  have  a  personal  in- 
terest in  that  covenant  ;  so  that  if  Adam  should  have 
kept  that  covenant,  such  person  should  be  personally 
justified  ;  and  if  Adam  should  have  broken  that  cove- 
nant,  sucii  person  should  be  personally  condemned. 

4.  That  since  the  future  existence  of  these  persons 
was  decreed  by  Jehovah  ;  and  their  future  connection 
with  Adam,  and  participation  in  his  righteousness  and 
its  reward  ;  or  in  his  guilt,  and  its  punishment ;  were 
also  determined  by  the  same  immutable  will ;  we  can- 


# 


not  but  thiiilc,  that  they,  even  then,  bad  a  connection 
with,  ami  interyst  in,  Adam;  which  non-en  ities,  con- 
cerning whom  Jehovah  decreed  that  they  should  re- 
main non  entities  to  all  eternity,  could  not  have. 

5.  Now  this  connection  between  Adam  and  bis  pre- 
determined descendants,  is  what  we  view,  when  we 
say  that  Adam  was  their  covenant  bead  ;  that  Adam 
was  their  representative. 

And  what  is  there  in  all  this  about  dividing  x\dara's 
guilt  into  shreds  according  to  the  number  of  his  poste- 
rity ?  We  suppose  that  if  be  dies,  they  die  :  and  if 
they  die  as  well  as  be,  we  presume,  and  we  say,  that 
they  were  as  guilty  as  be.  We  do  not  want  a  Becca- 
ria  to  instruct  us  that  the  Infinite  Judge  ^of#all  the 
earth  proportions  punishments  to  crimes.  From  equa- 
lity of  punishment,  we  infer  equality  of  guilt. 

But  if  any  one  will  insist  on  making  this  a  mathe- 
matical question,  to  mathematics  let  us  go.  And  then 
we  get  the  following  ratio  :  Supposing  (by  hypothe- 
sis) that  Adam  and  bis  descendants  amount  to  a  mil- 
lion, a  very  small  calculation  ;  but  mathematicians 
know  that  the  doctrine  of  ratios  does  not  depend  on 
the  particular  value  of  antecedents  and  consequents. 
We  have  the  following  proportion, 

.      .  ,      ,      .      Tk     .,        Adam's  sin         Death 

As  Adam's  sm  :  Death  :  :  -j-^^-^^  :    ^^000,000 

Tliat  is,  for  readers  who  are  not  mathematicians 
ought  to  know  something  about  this  subject,  each  of 
the  million  in  the  covenant  was  guilty  of  one  millionth 
part  of  a  sin,  and  shall  suffer  the  one  millionth  part  of 
death.  Header,  thou  mayest  pronounce  this  any  thing 
but  sense  or  argument. 

But  who  is  guilty  of  this  nonsense  ?  We  assert  that 
if  one  million  of  men  (according  to  hypothesis)  were 


% 


87 

included  by  God,  in  an  aggregate  number,  to  be  affect- 
ed by  Adam's  sin  or  righteousness ;  then,  since  the 
whole  includes  all  its  parts,  one  million  of  men  in- 
cludes one  million  individuals  of  mankind  :  and  we 
say,  if  each  one  of  these  individuals  die  for  this  single 
sin  of  Adam,  then  was  each  man  guilty  of  that  one  sin. 
Therefore  each  individual  of  the  million  was  guilty  of 
the  one  sin  of  Adam. 

Mr.  M^C.  seems  to  think,  that  the  decree  of  Je- 
hovah, and  even  his  sacred  covenant,  are  worth  nothing; 
and  leave  their  objects  among  the  non-entities,  which 
are  decreed  ever  to  remain  non-entiiies.  Let  me  pro- 
pose him  a  problem — Have  the  bodies  of  the  saint's, 
now  in  their  graves,  any  interest  in  the  resurrection  of 
the  just,  and  the  glories  of  the  heavenly  state,  which 
the  bodies  of  sinners  have  not  ?  If  so,  does  it  arise 
from  the  covenant  of  grace  ? 

In  relation  to  the  covenant  of  grace,  we  believe,  and 
have  believed,  since  the  days  of  the  reformation,  and 
I  pledge  the  man  who  says  to  the  days  of  the  apostles, 
or  as  far  back  as  he  pleases  to  go — We  believe  that 
the  eternal   Father  and   his  Eternal  Son,  foreseeing 
n^  from  all  eternity  (for  what  can  be   hid   from  Infinite 
v*wisdom,  which  knoweth  all  that  can  be  known)  that 
.>-    Adam  would  transgress  the  covenant  ;  and  yearning 
with   bowels  of  infinite  compassion,  such  bowels  as 
mortal  man  knoweth  not,  nor  can   know,  over  a  poor, 
foreseen,  lost  race — of  noble  powers  and  high  destinies ; 
did  determine  to  interpose  :   and  to  show  to  surround- 
ing spheres,  what  is   mercy,  and  did   solemnly  cove- 
nant and  vow  to  each  other  as  follows. 

That  if,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Eternal  Son  should 
pledge  his  truth  and  honour  to  assume  human  nature 
into  a  personal  union  with  his  divine,  and  should  vo- 


88 

luntarily  submit  himself  to  the  broken  law  ;  should 
ei)d(ire  the  penalty  incurred  by  Adam's  sin,  should 
fulfil  the  righteousness  of  the  law  by  obeying  its  every 
precept. 

Then,  on  the  other  hand,  he  should  receive  as  his 
reward,  a  certain  number  of  the  whole  race  ;  to  be 
given  him,  some  in  this  age,  some  in  the  next,  some 
in  the  succeeding  age,  and  so  on  till  the  last  of  the 
race  should  be  born,  and  should  have  finished  his, 
destined  conrse  on  earth. 

And  that  he  should  have  full  authority  and  power 
over  the  whole  race  of  mankind,  and  over  the  world 
which  they  inhabit  ;  that  he  might  pick  out  each  one 
at  the  day  and  hour  appointed  ;  that  he  should  have  au- 
thority to  command  any  and  all  the  angels  of  God,  and 
the  whole  created  universe  of  God,  to  render  him  any 
assistance,  they  could,  in  recovering  and  preserving 
to  eternal  life,  this  travail  of  his  soul  ;  And  that  he 
should  have  the  command  and  direction  of  the  Infi- 
nite Spirit  of  God,  to  enlighten,  purify,  and  sanctify 
these  destined  ones,  and  hring  them  to  glory. 

And  in  relation  to  all  mankind,  that  since  they  were 
under  the  law,  and  since  he  had  pledged  himself  to 
work  out  the  righteousness  of  the  law,  he  should  give 
them  a  free  offer  of  that  righteousness,  as  he  should  see 
cause. 

And  finally,  that  all  who  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  shall  be  saved. 

All  this  we  profess  to  believe — And  it  has,  in  a 
good  degree,  been  the  faith  of  the  professing  church 
of  God  from  the  beginning.  And  we  are  too  tender 
of  the  honour  of  our  intellectual  reputation,  not  to  stake 
the  whole  of  it  in  this  cause.  We  do  believe  that  the 
Eternal  Father,  and  his  Eternal  Son,  equally  omni- 


scient,  did  intend  that  the  new  covenant,  or  the  eternal 
covenant  of  grace,  (we  have  proved  it  to  be  eternal) 
should  save  a  definite  number  of  mankind — (ask  God 
wliy  not  all!)  And  as  we  (by  hypothesis)  supposed 
that  a  million  were  included  in  Adam's  covenant;  so 
we  shall  suppose  (by  hypothesis)  that  half  a  million  is 
included  in  the  covenant  of  grace — God  forbid  that  this 
ratio  should  not  be  too  small — (and  no  man  can  prove 
by  the  Scriptures  that  it  is  not)  we  are  not  ashamed  to 
say,  that  we  believe,  that  if  God  saves  half  a  million 
of  men,  he  must  save  half  a  million  of  individucU  men  : 
that  if  half  a  million  men  were  pledged  as  the  travail 
of  the  Redeemer's  soul,  in  the  eternal  covenant  of 
grace,  (for  we  have  proved  it  to  be  eternal)  then  half  a 
million  of  individual  men  were  pledged.  And  again, 
we  stake  our  intellectual  reputation  on  the  assertion, 
that  those  who  were  thus  given  by  the  Father,  and  ac- 
cepted by  the  Son,  and  known  to  both,  did  stand  in  a 
relation  to  that  Son,  different  from  the  rest  of  mankind. 
Call  him  their  covenant  head — call  him  their  repre- 
sentative if  you  will — call  him  by  any  relative  name 
you  will — we  again  stake  our  intellectual  reputation 
on  the  assertion  that  his  relation  to  the  travail  of  his 
soul,  to  those  who  were  given  hira  to  be  saved,  is  dif- 
ferent from  the  relation  he  bore  to  those  who  were  not 
given  him  to  be  saved. 

If  after  all  we  are  pronounced  incapable  of  perceiv- 
ing the  truth  of  an  axiom,  we  must  console  under  the 
mortifying  imputation,  by  reflecting  that  Mr.  M'C.  is 
just  as  ill  af  as  we.  For  as  no  axiom  can  be  proved 
by  argument ;  and  as  men  of  common  sense  cannot 
perceive  the  intuitive  light  of  his  axiom,  it  follows  that 
Mr.  M'C.  will  never  be  able  to  reveal  his  discovery  by 

N 


90 

any  species  of  intellectual  process.     It  seems  to  be  an 
axiom  intended  for  the  sole  use  of  the  inventor. 

It  is  now  too  late  to  call  in  question,  whether  the 
glorious  reformation,  in  which  God  said,  let  there  be 
light,  and  there  was  light :  and  intellect  burst  her 
chains,  and  religion  poured  her  light ;  and  science 
burst  forth  into  birth  ;  and  tyi^nny  shrunk  back  ;  and 
the  spirit  of  liberty  waved  her  flag,  and  cried,  to  arms, 
my  sons,  to  arms ;  when  Europe  was  regenerated,  to  be- 
come the  regenerator  of  the  world.  It  is  too  late  to  en- 
quire whether  this  was  the  work  of  God  !  Can  I  believe 
that  the  Melancthons,  and  the  Luthers,  and  the  Mo- 
rells,  and  the  Calvins,  and  the  Jewels,  and  the  Owens, 
and  twenty  others,  whom  I  could  name,  ind  a  thousand 
others  of  whom  I  have  never  heard,  did  not  under- 
stand the  gospel.  In  reading  their  works  I  have  often 
paused  and  palpitated,  and  asked  what  has  become  of 
this  race  of  noble  blood  ?  Were  they  all  Monks  ? 
Have  they  no  sons  at  all  ?  In  this  age,  scarcely  can 
be  found  a  man  who  holds  a  lamp  that  can  show  us 
how  to  step  over  a  gutter:  those  held  lamps  tliat  shed 
light  over  half  a  world.  How  were  they  so  great? 
Surely  God  poured  on  them  his  spirit  in  no  ordinary 
degree — surely  they  studied  the  holy  word — surely 
they  prayed  for  the  spirit  of  illumination  when  they 
studied.  1  find  them  expressing  for  each  other  a  man- 
ly  esteem  ;  and  I  see  them  interchanging  the  side- 
long-glance of  love,  in  a  way  that  lovers  only  can  see  : 
but  I  have  not  found  a  single  puif  at  each  other,  in  all 
that  I  have  read  of  them.  Indeed  they  were  made  of 
too  weighty  metal  to  be  puflfed  up  by  the  breath  of  mor- 
tal man.  And  am  I  to  be  told  that  these  men  did  not 
understand  the  gospel  ?    Am  I  to   be  told  that  they 


91 

'»  chattered''^  tlie  gospel  call  in  terms  that  made  Jesus 
Christ  a  cheat  and  a  liar. 

I  do  not  say  that  they  were  always  right.  God  left 
so  much  human  frailty  in  them,  as  warns  us  to  depend 
not  on  them,  hut  on  his  oivn  spirit  and  word.^  In  some 
instances  I  think  them  wrong,  and  then,  with  timid 
step,  I  take  a  different  way.  But  never  have  I  told, 
and  never  shall  1  tell,  the  public,  that  I  learned  the 
way  to  truth  by  my  father's  errors.  No,  ye  heroes,  if 
ever  I  name  your  name,  save  for  praise,  may  my  name 
rot. 

The  churches  of  the  reformation  were,  I  hope,  not 
wrong  in  any  essential  point  of  doctrine,  worship,  or 
practical  law.  I  hope  so,  because  I  am  sure,  that  if 
the  case  be  otherwise,  I  shall  never  live  to  see  the  er- 
ror rectified.  Is  it  possible  to  believe  that  the  glorious 
churches  of  Switzerland — that  the  glorious  churches 
of  France,  and  of  Holland — that  the  glorious  churches 
of  England,  and  of  Scotland,  and  of  Ireland,  and  of 
the  United  States  of  America  ;  that  all  these  churches, 
and  all  their  anointed  instructors,  the  lights  of  the 
world,  should  all  of  them,  and  every  man  of  them,  all 
this  time  have  been  proclaiming  the  gospel  in  terms 
which  make  God  a  cheat  and  his  Son  a  liar  !  It  can- 
not be  !  This  new  discovery  must  be  a  strife  of  words. 
The  fathers  were  right :  and  instead  of  their  gospel, 
you  have  offered  you  a  metaphor,  metamorphosed 

INTO    A    METAPHYSIC. 

I  shall  pursue  the  new  theory  no  farther. 
It  is  not  absolutely  impossible  to  form  a  veri-simili- 
tude  conjecture  of  the  causes  which  have  produced 

*  Their  doctrine  I  believe  to  be  always  right — when  they 
chanced  to  slip  in  a  bit  of  philosophy,  a  system,  it  was  wrong. 


9S 

this  new  system.  We  fiad  here  and  there  some  glo- 
rious ideas,  the  result  of  long  analysis,  beyond  the 
years  and  mental  training  of  Mr.  M'T.  were  his  talents 
ten-fold  what  they  are.  We  are  sure  these  ideas  are 
not  the  result  of  his  researches,  because  we  see  that 
he  does  not  know  what  to  do  with  them.  When  they 
are  put  together  with  other  materials,  the  whole  resem- 
bles nothing  so  much  as  a  modern  Mahomedan  struc- 
ture in  Greece,  where  a  fine  piece  of  antique  sculpture 
is  found  in  the  wall  turned  up  side  down,  and  a 
Corinthian  pillar  is  found  supporting  a  wretched 
hovel. 

I  say  not  this  to  disparage  Mr.  M'C.'s  talents  ;  for  I 
know',  and  very  willingly  say,  that  he  possesses  very 
respectable  talents  ;  and  talents  which,  if  rightly  used, 
are  well  calculated  to  render  him  a  very  useful  man, 
in  the  latitude  and  longitude,  in  the  soil  and  climate, 
where  Divine  Providence  has  placed  him.  But  whe- 
ther they  are  the  talents  of  an  Investigator  of  Truth, 
it  is  hard  to  say.  The  present  specimen  is  unfavour- 
able ;  but  it  is  not  decisive  of  the  question,  by  any 
means.  The  advocate  of  truth,  however,  has  his  own 
glory,  as  well  as  the  Investigator.  Neither  are  the 
two  characters  quite  incompatible.  The  Advocate' 
may  grow  into  an  Investigator.  But  it  is  to  be  feared 
that  there  is  some  immutable  law  of  our  nature,  which 
has  decreed  that  no  man  shall,  at  the  same  period  of 
his  days,  excel  in  both.  To  this  law  there  are,  to  say 
the  least,  few  exceptions.  And  Dr.  Goldsmith  spoke 
truth,  when  he  said  of  Edmund  Burke,  that  Proteus  of 
genius,  that  his  trade  was  to  cut  blocks  with  a  razor. 
Of  one  of  the  characters  spoken  of,  the  world  needs 
but  few ;  of  the  other  it  can  never  have  too  many. 

The  Advocate  of  Truth,  is  a  man  of  masculine 


9S 

port  and  nervous  arm :  his  open  brow  and  sparl^ling 
eye,  indicate  the  iionesty  of  his  intentions :  quick  of 
perception,  irritable  of  feeling,  in  fancy  versatile,  en- 
thusiastic in  all  things.  He  fears  nothing:  and  why 
should  he  fear.  He  mounts  the  Pulpit:  he  pours  on 
his  audience  the  direct  ray  of  plain  Gospel  truth  :  he 
appeals  to  their  understanding,  and  they  know  it — 
he  appeals  to  their  heart,  and  they  feel  it;  he  brings 
forward — not  the  objections  of  a  drivelling  logician — 
created  only  to  be  damned — but  the  objections  which 
the  true  orator  reads  in  the  eyes  and  in  the  hearts  of 
his  audience.  He  states  these  objections  in  more  tre- 
mendous form  than  ever  they  appeared  in  before.  The 
audience  is  terrified — they  tremble  for  themselves — they 
tremble  even  for  the  preacher.  He  touches  the  spec- 
tres with  the  wand  of  truth,  they  are  gone !  His  soul 
takes  fire,  his  audience  are  on  fire.  They  see  more 
than  they  see,  they  know  more  than  they  know,  they 
are  more  than  themselves.  He  spreads  his  pinions, 
and  spurns  the  earth,  and  away  they  are  all  gone  toge- 
ther in  the  whirlwind. 

Such  a  man  is  worth — but  his  Master  will  estimate 
his  worth.  He  has  always  this  singular  felicity,  that 
he  is  the  immediate  instrument  of  good  to  mankind. 
He  sees  himself  surrounded  by  his  children,  and  his 
children's  children.  He  sits  under  the  trees  which 
his  own  hand  has  planted,  and  plucks  and  eats  their 
fruit.  He  enjoys  his  honours  in  his  own  days:  and, 
provided  God  receives  supreme  glory  as  the  author  of 
all,  I  protest  I  cannot  see  why  it  should  be  a  sin,  to 
exult  in  the  consciousness  of  having  merited  well  of 
one's  kind ;  and  delighting  in  the  thought,  that  God 
has  given  mankind  grace  enough  to  acknowledge  their 
obligations. 


For  such  men,  in  this  country,  and  at  this  day,  there 
is  a  great  demand:  and  they  are  the  onl^  class  of  the 
intellectual  breed  for  whom  there  is  any  demand. 

The  Investigator  of  truth  is  a  very  diiferent  cha- 
racter. Occasionally  pale,  occasionally  hectic  ;  al- 
ways thoagliifiil,  pensive,  absent,  lost,  absorbed,  fond 
of  solitude.  His  ardour  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
blood  or  thf*.  passions ;  it  is  kindled  entirely  by  the 
"will,  by  a  doli berate,  stubborn  determination  that  he 
will  know  the  truth.  His  courage  is  of  a  singular 
character  :  it  consists  in  an  awful  terror  of  being  de- 
feated. Having  formed  his  determination,  he  buckles 
on  his  knapsack,  with  a  few  mathematical  instruments 
in  it,  takes  his  staff  in  his  Iiand,  and  bidding  adieu  to 
the  whole  human  race,  places  himself  in  the  very  mid- 
dle of  the  highway,  and  steps  off,  with  the  earth  be- 
neath his  feet,  the  heavens  over  his  head,  and  the  God, 
who  made  both  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  his  sole 
companion,  and  his  only  trust.  He  proceeds  slowly, 
marking  every  thing,  till  coming  to  a  place,  where  the 
road  has  been  strewed  with  trees  torn  up  by  a  hurricane, 
and  greatly  injured  by  torrents,  and  looking  to  one  side, 
he  sees  a  fine  open  way,  and  reads  on  the  finger  board 
this  is  the  road — and  hastily  taking  it  he  proceeds. 
He  comes  to  a  lofty  structure,  and  reads  a  name  in 
LARGE  CAPITALS.  I  am  right,  he  cries.  This  is  a 
triumphal  pile,  erected,  to  the  glory  of  some  miglity 
chief,  who  on  this  spot  reaped  the  laurels  of  vic- 
tory in  the  cause  of  truth.  On  he  goes,  and  passes 
many  such  monuments  ;  but  at  last  he  finds  himself 
between  two  mountains,  towering  perpendicularly  to 
the  heavens,  and  a  dark,  noisome  gulf  before  him,  he 
can  advance  no  further  ! 

Keader,  he  went  out  in  search  of  truth;  and  he  has 


9^ 

not  lost  his  labour — He  has  discovered,  that  tlie  truth 
which  he  is  in  quest  of,  is  not  to  be  found  in  that  road, 
and  that  no  man  ever  will  find  it  there.  He  has  solved 
one  problem,  he  knows  he  is  wrong ;  but  how  did  he 
get  wrong  ?  This  is  his  next  problem.  He  retraces 
his  steps,  and  now  he  reads,  as  he  returns,  the  whole 
of  the  inscriptions  on  the  monuments  ;  and  to  his  utter 
amazement,  finds  that  these  are  all  of  them,  the  tombs 
of  mighty  chiefs,  who  in  times  of  old  had  encamped 
with  their  armies  on  these  spots  ;  and  had  perished 
during  the  night,  by  some  pestilential  vapours  peculiar 
to  the  soil.  He  hastens  on  to  the  jinger-jjost,  and 
finds  the  whole  inscription  to  be  this,  The  I'oad  to  de- 
struction. 

Placing  himself  once  more  in  the  very  middle  of  the 
high  way,  he  moves  right  forward,  and  after  infinite 
toil,  at  last   surmounts  every  obstacle,  and  finds  him- 
self in  the  right  road.     Willingly  would  he  repair  the 
breach,  and  remove  all  the  obstructions,  but  he  is  una- 
ble ;  and  his  duty  calls  him  to  go  forward.     But  be- 
fore he  proceeds,  he  notes  accurately  the  longitude  and 
latitude  of  the  spot  ;  and  then  commits  himself  once 
more  to  his  journey.     And  thus  he  proceeds,  night 
and  day,  through  winter's  cold  and  summer's  heat  ;  ia 
all  winds  and  all  weathers,  some  times  lost  in  wrong 
roads,  often  in  the  right ;  and   sometimes  in  the  dismal 
darkness  of  the  night,  under  the  pitiless  pelting  of  the 
storm,  he  begins  to  doubt  whether  there  be  any  road 
at  all,  till  he  recollects   that  he  is  sure  he   once   was 
in  it  ;  sometimes  in  the  desperate  agonies  of  his  heart, 
he  is  tempted  to  wish  he  never  had  heard  there  was  a 
road,  till  at  last  he  is  relieved  from    his  doubts,   and 
catches  a  momentary  glance  of  the  path  by  the  flashes 
of  the  lightning  of  heaven. 


96 

Reader,  the  number  of  men  who  set  out  on  this  jour- 
ney is  probably  greater  than  we  imagine  ;  but  many 
of  them  are  lost  in  the  false  ways,  and  many  of  them 
breathe  out  their  souls  in  the  true  way,  solitary  and 
unknown.  Like  Houghton  and  Parke,  they  perish  in 
the  noble  attempt  to  trace  a  path  by  which  civilization 
may  travel  into  the  abodes  of  horrid  cruelty  ;  but  un- 
like Houghton  and  Parke — etiain  jpeviere  ruince — 
their  very  names  have  perished. 

Should  one  of  these  travellers  live  to  return  home 
after  his  circumambulation,  he  finds  himself  a  stranger 
in  his  own  land.  When  his  neighbours  see  him  seated 
in  his  own  plain  cottage,  drinking  only  the  water  of 
the  same  well,  and  feeding  on  the  fruit  of  the  same 
tree,  as  in  his  youth  ;  they  are  apt  to  consider  him  as 
a  weak  and  visionary  man,  who  gave  himself  a  great 
deal  of  trouble  to  little  purpose.  But  the  censure  is 
not  entirely  well-founded.  For  he  sits  more  securely 
in  his  cottage  than  formerly,  knowing  that  it  is  the  only 
one  on  earth,  that  is  thunder  proof ;  he  drinks  of  his 
spring  more  copiously,  because  he  knows  that  its  wa» 
ters  alone  know  no  poisonous  mixture,  no  impure  sedi- 
ment ;  and  eats  his  fruits  with  greater  delight,  because 
he  is  sure  that  they  grew  on  thetree  of  life.  And  though 
the  aged  may  have  grown  too  wise  to  need  his  instruc- 
tion, he  may  have  an  opportunity  of  warning  their  chil- 
dren to  stay  at  home  in  their  own  native  land  ;  which 
is  the  glory  of  all  lands.  But  if  any  one  of  them  should 
determine  to  see  the  world  for  himself,  the  old  travel- 
ler  hands  him  his  map,  bids  him  God  speed,  and  prays 
earnestly  for  his  safe  return. 

But  reader,  lost  thou  shouldst  think  that  I  carry 
thee  too  far  out  of  thy  road  ;  I  shall  carry  thee  riglit 
iuto  the  middle  of  the  Calvinistic  churches. 


97 

When  I  see  a  new  moral  theory  springing  up  in 
other  churches  and  denominations,  I  caie  little 
about  the  matter ;  considering  the  theorist  to  be,  among 
his  party,  a  very  innoxious  animal.  Eut  when  I  see 
a  theorist  among  Calvinists,  I  tremble.  This  oddity  of 
temperament ;  or,  as  the  great  American  physician 
would  call  it,  this  idiosyneracy  of  constitution,  has 
arisen,  I  suspect,  from  the  following  causes.  The  pe- 
culiar attribute  which  has  distinguished  the  Calvinistic 
sect,  in  all  nations,  and  in  all  ages,  is  a  firm  and  stub- 
born  faith.  I  use  these  epithets  in  their  fullest  and 
most  favourable  sense  ;  a  Calvinist  will  believe  God's 
word,  but  he  will  believe  nothing  else,  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion. Talk  to  him  of  the  decisions  of  ten  thousand 
councils,  he  cares  nothing  about  them,  and  indeed,  rare- 
ly gives  himself  trouble  to  know  any  thing  about  them. 
Talk  to  him  of  moral  theories,  expand  their  beauties, 
display  their  uses  :  he  listens  patiently,  and  when  you 
have  done,  laconically  quotes  at  you  a  text  of  scripture. 
In  short,  the  head  of  a  Calvinist  is  bullet  proof  against 
any  cannon  of  any  calibre,  unless  the  bullet  be  a  text 
of  scripture.  This  is  not  satire.  It  is  only  truth  with  a 
benevolent  smile;  and  I  treat  that  lady,  as  I  do  all  her 
sex,  I  prefer  her  smiles  to  her  frowns  by  far.  I  men- 
tion it  to  the  honour  of  that  section  of  the  christian 
church  ;  and  I  mention  it  as  the  great  secret  of  their 
characteristic  firmness  in  doctrine,  and  other  matters 
connected  with  doctrine. 

But  causes  produce  effects.  And  this  characteristic 
devotion  to  faith  has  been  the  cause,  that  while  no  sect 
has  been  so  rich  in  sound  theologians,  who  have  taught 
the  pure  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  who  have  enforced  its 
pure  morality,  who  have  conducted  afflicted  souls 
through  all  the  mysteries  and  mazes  of  Satanic  tempt- 
Q 


98 

ations.  and  saintly  feelings  and  experience  ;  no  sect 
has  been  so  poor  in  moral  philosophers.  I  cannot  re- 
collect the  name  of  one  single  moral  philosopher  in 
the  whole,  I  mean  a  philosopher  with  a  theory.  When- 
ever such  a  philosopher  has  appeared,  he  has  led  off 
his  column  from  the  army,  and  formed  a  new  encamp- 
ment, at  first  bidding  defiance  to  his  ancient  friends, 
and  afterwards  making  war  on  them.  Such  were  Arius, 
Socinus,  Wesley,  Priestley,  and  others.  I  mention 
these  names  only  as  exemplifications  of  the  fact,  that  a 
Calvinist  with  a  new  theory  always  leads  off  his  co- 
lumn from  the  grand  army ;  but  I  protest  against  rank- 
ing them  together  as  equals. 

Perhaps  the  instance  of  president  Edwards  may  be 
quoted  against  me ;  but  I  do  not  think  it  ought.  He  was 
the  cause,  he  sowed  the  seed,  of  the  Hopkinsian  sect ; 
but  if  he  were  back  on  earth,  with  the  principles  he 
had  when  he  left  it,  he  would  not  join  those  who  call 
themselves  his  pupils.  And  even  he  is  a  strong  proof, 
that  the  moment  a  Calvinist  turns  philosopher,  there  is 
a  danger  of  a  schism.  Is  the  doctrine  of  the  bible  then 
in  opposition  to  philosophy  ?  No  :  That  is  not  my 
meaning.  It  is  philosophical,  most  philosophical ; 
infinite  wisdom  cannot  establish  a  constitution  which 
shall  not  be  infinitely  philosophical. 

But  ray  meaning  is,  that  the  philosophy  of  Christi- 
anity is  by  far  too  vast  and  too  profound  to  be  under- 
stood, till  the  philosophy  of  language,  and  the  philoso- 
phy  of  the  human  mind,  and  the  philosophy  of  man  in 
general,  as  a  sentient,  intelligent,  social  being,  has 
made  great  advances.  We  can,  however,  enjoy  Chris- 
tianity without  its  philosophy  :  as  Pliny  enjoyed  the 
sun,  when  his  philosophy  had  ascertained  no  more 
than  that  it  was  just  a  little  bigger  than  Mount  Athos. 
I  can  eat  my  dinner  without  being  a  chymist,  or  a  phi- 


99 

sologist.  I  can  enjoy  the  light  of  the  sun,  whether  I 
believe  he  moves  or  stands  still.  By  looking  in  the 
almanac,  1  can  tell  when  it  will  be  flood  tide  at  market 
street  wharf,  whether  I  can  calculate  the  moon's  situa- 
tion in  her  orbit  or  not ;  and  it  is  the  easiest  course ; 
and  the  very  one  that  the  best  astronomer  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  would  resort  to.  Go  to  your  Bible  for 
the  rule  of  your  faith,  and  leave  Jesus  Christ  to  an- 
swer for  its  philosophy  :  assure  yourselves  that  he 
who  is  the  wisdom  of  the  Father,  will,  in  the  end,  flout 
at  the  wisdom  of  those  who  impeached  the  philosophy 
«f  his  gospel. 

Jonathan  Edwards  had  all  the  talents  requisite  to 
form  a  systematic  moralist :  acuteness  and  grasp  of  in- 
tellect, coolness  and  patience  in  investigation,  a  tho- 
rough power  of  reading  all  that  was  going  on  in  his  own 
bosom,  great  acquaintance  with  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
great  experience  of  the  work  of  the  holy  spirit  on  his 
own  heart,  much  experience  of  the  ingratitude,  injus- 
tice, and  cruelty  of  men ;  he  loved  truth,  he  adored 
truth  as  an  attribute  of  his  God;  he  felt  the  power  of  in- 
vestigating truth  to  be  the  peculiar  talent  God  had 
given  him,  and  was  as  free  as  any  man  from  base  am- 
bition and  vanity.  Every  one  of  these  elements  is  es- 
sential  to  the  composition  of  a  systematic  moralist.* 

*  Ought  not  good  humour  to  be  added  to  this  enumeration  of  the 
elements  of  a  good  metaphysician  ?  Thirty  years  ago,  the  great 
Dr.  Reid  was  emeritus  iirofessor  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow :  whenever  he  appeared  on  the  walks  of  the 
college  green,  every  eye  was  turned  to  him  ;  every  student  gave 
the  word,  there's  Dr.  Reid.  And  yet  his  great  talents  and  science 
were  never  thought  of.  His  gentleness,  his  kindness,  his  sim- 
plicity, his  amiability,  made  the  whole  impression.  It  was  not 
the  great  man  that  was  admired,  but  the  good  man,  the  good  old 


106 

But  he  went  to  work  too  soon.  In  his  days,  the  phi- 
losophy of  mind  was  in  babyhood.  He  laboured  also 
under  some  hallucinations  of  mind,  which  have  led 
astray  many  of  the  ablest  of  the  human  race.  He  went 
out  in  quest  of  a  radical  truth,  a  radical  virtue  ;  from 
whieh  all  truth,  all  virtue,  must  descend,  by  legitimate 
logical  deduction.  And  he  seems  to  have  thought, 
that  if  we  have  an  absolutely  certain  knowledge  of  two 
ti'uths,  it  must  be  possible  to  trace  the  connecting  links 
which  bind  tliem  tosinther.  The  sect  which  sprung 
out  of  his  tomb,  is  celebrated  for  extreme  logical  sub- 
tlety ;  and  use  weapons  so  delicately  {)ointed,  that  no- 
body but  themselves  can  see  their  point,  nor  be  abso- 
lutely certain  whether  they  have  any  point  at  all.  But 
their  conclusions  confound  and  terrifj'.  Like  Hobbes, 
the  best  logician  ever  England  produced,  they  land 
you  in  conclusions  that  you  are  sure  are  wrong. 

The  churches  are  in  awful  troubles.  Satan  has 
great  wrath,  because  he  knows  liis  time  is  short. 
And  he  manages  with  admirable  dexterity.  This 
is   a   philosophical   age,   and   men   will   think,   and 

patriarch,  the  grandfather  of  them  all,  that  they  venerated  and 
loved.  Bishop  Berkley  was  a  most  chivalrous  philanthropist. 
John  Locke  was  a  good  humoured  facetious  companion.  Who 
ever  saw  in  the  christian  church,  an  ill-natured  man,  who  had  the 
slightest  pretensions  to  the  name  of  a  metaphysician  ?  On  the  con- 
trary, all  the  deistical  and  atheistical  metaphysicians  are  ill-na- 
tured and  malignant — selfish,  retiring  within  their  own  shell; 
without  friendship ;  their  ambition,  their  interest,  engrossing  all 
their  soul.  So  destitute  of  affection  to  their  kind,  that  they  can- 
not love  even  a  woman  : — so  conscious  of  dishonesty,  that  they 
can  trust  nobody  ;  and  hence  few  of  them  ever  marry.  They 
wrote  their  systems  for  their  own  fame  and  profit,  and  to  do  evil 
to  a  race  they  cordially  hated.  They  mixed  their  poisons  because 
they  intended  to  kill. 


101 

thought  discovers  truth,  and  truth  is  naturally  proma- 
tive  of  piety,  virtue,  peace  and  happiness ;  it  is  his  po- 
licy, therefore,  to  corrupt  truth  at  its  fountain.  He 
is  taking  the  brilliant  discoveries  of  this  age,  in  all 
sorts  of  philosophy,  and  converting  them  into  machines 
to  batter  down  the  fortress  of  the  christian  faith,  or  to 
corrupt  its  fountains  by  deleterious  infusions.  To 
arms  then,  ye  sons  of  the  brave  :  but  let  no  man  rein 
a  steed  on  this  field  who  cannot  establish  his  title  to 
that  honour,  by  the  scars  and  experience  of  twenty 
campaigns.  One  who  has  the  true  coup  d'ceil ;  one 
who  can  estimate  his  enemies'  force  as  well  as  his  own; 
who  sees  at  a  glance  the  meaning  of  every  movement, 
and  quicker  than  lightning,  has  a  counter  movement  to 
meet  it ;  one  who  knows  and  has  poised  every  weapon 
on  each  side  of  the  war.  But  keep  back  the  youth, 
or  rather  let  them  have  the  discretion  to  keep  back 
themselves.  One  of  them  will  do  more  harm  than  a 
hundred  of  them  are  worth. 

Willingly  would  I  suppress  what  I  am  going  to  say, 
could  I  recoucile  the  suppression  to  a  sense  of  duty. 
But  somebody  must  be  found  to  tell  young  preachers 
their  duty,  on  the  same  terms  that  they  impress  duty 
on  the  consciences  of  their  audience — eternal  responsi- 
bility to  the  Son  of  God.  And  I  wish  the  application 
to  be  as  extensive  as  the  applicability  of  the  remarks. 
I  would  tell  young  preachers,  then,  that  Jesus  Christ 
lias  sent  them  to  preach  his  holy  gospel,  to  gather  in 
the  travail  of  his  soul,  to  feed  his  lambs,  to  visit  the 
forsaken,  to  find  out  the  forgotten,  and  to  bind  up  the 
broken  hearted.  And  they  are  to  preach  his  gospel  as 
his  own  word,  sanctioned  by  his  own  authority  ;  and 
not  to  permit  themselves  to  be  questioned  wiiy,  and 
how,  and  wherefore  these  things  can  be.     While  you 


i03 

are  engaged  in  these  holy  and  delightful  duties,  give 
yourselves  much  to  meditation  and  prayer ;  to  deep 
meditation  on  your  own  hearts,  and  constant  searching 
of  the  holy  word.  Feeding  on  such  angels'  food,  who 
can  tell  how  great  you  may  grow  ? 

But  I  tell  you  what  he  has  not  sent  you  to  do.  He 
has  not  sent  you  to  make  new  systems  of  theology  or 
philosophy — he  cannot  have  sent  you  to  do  what  it  is 
impossible  you  should  be  competent  to  perform.  How 
many  years  have  you  spent  searching  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures in  the  fear  of  God  ?  How  many  years  have  you 
patiently  toiled  in  examining  the  philosophy  of  your 
age,  and  testing  it  by  the  inspired  word  ?  And  yet  you 
say  you  have  a  new  system  already  ! 

Don't  let  your  youthful  inexperience  deceive  you. 
Depend  upon  it,  that  all  the  fine  systems  which  shine 
with  such  lustre  to  the  enraptured  imagination  of  youth, 
will  not  be  found  to  be  of  God.  Depend  upon  it,  there 
hang  up,  like  models  of  perpetual  motions  in  the  cabi- 
nets of  the  curious — there  hang  up  in  the  heads  of  all 
men  who  have  ever  troubled  their  heads  with  moral 
speculations,  a  great  many  moral  systems,  and  fine 
theories.  They  laboured  long  on  them,  they  propor- 
tioned them  curiously,  filed  and  polished  them  to  the 
utmost,  and  put  them  firmly  together.  And  now  the 
decisive  moment  being  come,  the  artist,  with  palpitating 
bosom,  puts  his  machine  in  motion,  and  it  moves,  and 
the  inventor  bounds  to  the  ceiling. 

This  is  true  glory,  for  he  has  done  what  never  was 
done  before  !  And  it  will  be  an  admirable  present  to 
mankind.  It  will  abolish  all  wind-mills  and  water- 
mills  ;  watch-springs,  and  clock  pendulums,  and  steam 
engines.  And,  in  the  coming  age,  nothing  in  this  wide 
world  will  move  but   itself — ^And  then    begins  the 


103 

millenium.  Dear  delusions,  I  love  you  though  I 
laugh  at  you.     You  too  have  your  uses. 

Now  all  the  systems  which  improve  the  christian 
religion  are  precisely  these  perpetual  motions,  issued 
and  uttered  in  the  moment  that  the  enthusiasm  of  tlie 
inventor  was  in  its  delirium.  Men  more  cautious  let 
the  machine  stop,  and  try  it  again  and  again,  and  at  last 
finding  that  it  always  comes  to  rest,  place  it  on  the  shelf. 
Frequently  the  same  artist  lives  to  finish  half  a  dozen 
of  them.  But  he  gives  it  up  at  last  as  a  bad  business, 
locks  up  his  work  shop,  and  puts  the  key  in  his  pocket. 
Now  he  will  not  let  a  young  artist  into  his  workshop, 
lest  he  should  fall  in  love  with  one  of  these  machines, 
and  either  steal  it,  or  go  home  and  make  something 
like  it.  But  when  he  meets  an  artist  who  has  laboured 
at  the  trade,  and  given  it  up  fairly,  they  go  in,  and 
laugh  at  their  folly,  and  wonder  how  like  to  wisdom 
folly  can  look  ;  and  how  very  much  the  follies  of  dif- 
ferent men  may  resemble  each  other. 

But  to  speak  of  religious  systems  with  great  serious- 
ness. I  believe  that  Satan  is  permitted  to  lead  thought- 
ful minds,  with  the  most  upright  and  honest  intentions, 
into  these  whimsical  speculations  ;  and  that  if  they  are 
cool  and  cautious  they  will  be  brought  ojff  honourably  j 
and  be  brought  to  see  a  more  excellent  way.  And  even 
the  time  spent  in  system  making  will  not  be  lost  to  them; 
they  will  be  put  on  their  guard  respecting  the  tremen- 
dous cunning  of  that  adversary  with  whom  all  must 
contend,  but,  beyond  all,  the  ambassadors  of  the  cross. 
They  will,  by  a  few  such  instances,  learn  how,  and 
by  what  means  Christianity  is  corrupted.  It  is  (speak- 
ing respecting  its  doctrine)  seeking  after  the  phi- 
sophy  of  that  doctrine  :  God  tells  us  things  are  so  ; 
and  we  go   to  ask  how  these  things  are  so  :  and  not 


10* 

finding  the  law  of  the  system,  we  frequently  destroy 
the  bodies  which  compose  it.  That  men  are  free  agents, 
is  one  scripture  doctrine  ;  that  the  grace  of  God  is  in- 
fallibly efficacious,  is  another  scripture  doctrine  ;  hoio 
can  these  things  be,  we  cry  ?  And  in  searching  after 
this  law  of  the  system,  one  party  finds  it  convenient  to 
deny  free  will  in  order  to  establish  their  law — and  the 
other  balances  the  account  by  denying  free  grace.  The 
Scripture  tells  us,  that  all  Adam's  descendants  are 
guilty  of  his  sin,  and  liable  to  its  punishment.  How 
does  the  sin  become  theirs,  we  cry  ?  Now  this  is  a 
philosophical  question — And  it  has  been  answered, 
that  it  flows  down  in  the  blood.  Now  this  assertion, 
if  it  were  true,  is  no  part  of  Christianity,  it  belongs  to 
the  philosophy  of  Christianity.  And  I  have  demon- 
strated, that  this  is  false  philosophy.  Yet  Mr.  M^C. 
brings  this  false  philosophy  into  his  system.  What 
that  system  may  turn  out  no  soul  can  divine.  It  is  in 
the  egg  ;  but  when  hatched  it  will  be  a  serpent,  and 
bite.  That  Christ's  righteousness  is  imputed  to  be- 
lievers, and  procures  for  them  eternal  life,  is  the  scrip- 
tural doctrine.  But  all  demur  and  ask,  how  can  it  be 
imputed  ?  Now  I  assert  that  this  question  entirely  re- 
lates to  the  philosophy  of  Christianity.  The  reason  why 
a  thing  is  so,  is  nothing  else  than  a  philosophical 
question.  And  if  nobody  could  believe  in  Jesus 
Christ,  except  those  who  can  enter  into  the  fine  meta- 
physical doctrine  respecting  representation,  there  would 
not  be  one  Christian  for  a  thousand  that  now  praise  this 
Redeemer.  All  your  charming  babes,  boy  and  girl, 
tvhochaunt  their  Redeemer's  praise  must  be  pronounc- 
ed incapable  of  believing.  Does  one  of  them  know 
any  thing  about  the  reason  ivhy  Christ's  righteousness 
can  be  imputed  to  them  ?  0  poor  babes,  the  stones  in 


105 

the  street  know  as  ranch  of  the  matter  as  they.  Yet 
they  believe  in  Jesus,  and  his  lighteousness.  The 
gospel  was  given,  to  be  preached  to  the  poor,  to  the 
illiterate,  to  lisping  babes,  but  we  preach  it  in  a  man- 
ner that  only  philosophers  can  understand  :  and  some 
of  us  in  a  manner  which  philosophers  themselves 
cannot  understand. 

The  answer  to  this  philosophical  problem  comes  up 
again  and  fires  my  blood.  It  is  said  his  righteous- 
ness may  be  ours  because  he  represented  us.  I 
have  demonstrated  this  to  be  a  piece  of  false  philo- 
sophy. And  1  pronounce  it  one  of  the  most  pestilent 
pieces  of  false  philosophy,  with  which  the  chief  of  the 
fallen  hosts  ever  corrupted  the  christian  church.  It 
was  one  of  his  most  masterly  strokes  of  general- 
ship to  bring  the  church  on  that  ground.  Against 
this  wicked  philosophy  I  raise  the  hue  and  cry.  I 
lift  up  my  voice  like  a  trumpet,  and  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  I  call  on  the  whole  christian 
church  to  hunt  this  wisdom  of  the  devil  out  of  the 
world.  I  call  on  all  gospel  ministers,  upon  whom  God 
has  conferred  the  power  of  accurate  discrimination, 
to  bring  this  philosophy  to  the  test.  Whatever  they 
may  have  heretofore  thought,  or  said,  on  this  subject, 
I  call  upon  them  to  test  it  again.  It  is  a  doctrine  of 
the  devil  and  not  of  God. 

If  you  ask  me  what  is  the  grand  error  of  the  refor- 
mation churches,  what  has  produced  most  schism,  most 
controversy,  most  malignity,  and  been  worse  than  any 
thing  else,  or  all  things  else ;  I  name  this  philosophi- 
cal doctrine,  that  Christ's  righteousness  is  imputable 
to  men,  because  he  represented  them  in  the  covenant 
of  grace.  Look  back  to  page  54,  &;c.  and  see  how 
many  sects,  and  of  what  class  and  character,  have 
p 


106 

sprung  from  this  doctrine.  To  these  add  the  nume- 
rous other  sects  that  have  sprung  out  of  these  sects, 
and  then  say  what  ought  to  be  thought  of  this  Satanic 
philosophy. 

I  cant  say  by  which  one  of  the  reformers  this  piece 
of  philosophy  was  introduced  into  the  church  The 
idea  which  presents  itself  to  my  imagination,  concern- 
ing the  mode  of  its  introduction  is  this.  I  conceive  one 
of  the  old  reformers  sitting  writingon  the  subject  of  jus- 
tification by  faith  ;  and  Saian  standing  at  his  right 
hand  to  resist  him,  whispers  the  question,  how  can  the 
righteousness  of  the  Son  of  God  he  imputed  to  a  mor- 
tal man?  And  making  a  hasty  r(  i»]y,  perhaps  whisper- 
ed to  him,  the  reformer  \\rote  down  in  the  first  glow 
of  approving  thought,  that  Christ's  righteousness  is  im- 
puted to  believers  because  he  represented  them  in  the 
covenant. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  thus  much  is  certainly  known,  that 
the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  in  the  blood  of 
Christ  was  tlw  doctrine  of  the  reformation. 

E  en  a  politician  states  this  as  the  doctrine,  the 
the  soul,  the  cause  of  the  reformation  :  as  creating  a 
new  society  all  over  Europe  ;  as  giving  in  every  king- 
dom existence  to  a  society,  all  of  which  were  bound 
together  by  this  common  faith  ;  and  felt  its  influence 
like  the  influence  of  the  heart,  in  the  animal  system, 
extending  to  the  remotest  members,  and  even  to  the 
slightest  excrescences.  He  represents  this  principle 
or  doctrine,  as  giving  their  societies  all  the  effect  of 
corporate  and  political  organizatio  a  unity  of  ob- 
ject, a  unity  of  interest,  a  unity  of  affection,  a  unity  of 
co-operation.  Touch  this  doctrine,  in  any  one  nation, 
and  the  electric  shock  was  felt,  at  the  same  instant, 
over  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  by  every  individual  of 


lor 

the  same  faith.  And  when  that  doctrine  was  attacked, 
110  tie  of  kindred,  or  of  blood,  no  tie  of  allegiance,  no 
tie  of  patriotism,  could  bind  a  member  of  that  society. 
Thdy  felt  only  for  their  society  :  This  attacked  doc- 
trine was  their  Palladium,  their  ark,  their  all  in  life,  in 
death,  through  eternity.  It  was  the  cause  of  God,  and 
of  man,  and  of  the  universe.  These  are  the  views  of 
a  politician.  But  he  was  a  politician  whose  eye 
ranged  over  the  whole  of  human  society,  through  all 
its  various  organizations,  and  its  mysterious  and  in- 
terwoven ramifications  ;  and  while  it  ranged  over  the 
whole,  it  penetrated  to  the  centre  of  each,  and  per- 
ceived,  and  estimated,  the  individual  momentum,  and 
particular  direction  of  the  individual  forces,  whose 
united  power  produces  what  is  called  the  state  of 
society.  It  was  the  opinion  of  Edmund  Burke,  but 
what  is  most  to  our  purpose  is,  that  it  is  the  truth. 

Satan  had  vanquished  the  heroes  of  old,  on  the  field 
of  wordly  ambition.  I  have  no  doubt,  that  at  that 
time,  he  vanquished  them  by  drawing  up  their  own 
sons  against  them  ;  youths  full  of  genius,  fire,  and  me- 
tal ;  fond  of  speaking,  and  fond  of  premature  influence. 
To  behold  the  church  passing  from  persecution  to  pro- 
tection,  from  protection  to  influence,  and  from  influ- 
ence to  power,  wealth,  honour,  titles,  dignities,  su- 
premacy ;  must  certainly  have  conveyed  to  vulgar 
minds,  an  idea  of  a  prosperous  and  flourishing  condition. 
And  I  don't  doubt  but  when  the  old  father  exclaimed 
in  the  counsel,  "'  This  day  I  see  'poison  hroiight  into 
the  church,'^  there  was  a  fine,  eloquent,  ardent  youth, 
who  arose,  and  demonstrated  that  there  was  no  danger 
at  all  in  the  new  reformation.  ^'  What !  moderator, 
(would  he  sayj  can  there  be  any  danger  in  the  new  re- 
formation ?  You  have  been  long  complaining  of  pover- 


108 

ty,  and  here  is  Avealth  for  you  :  yon  have  been  praying 
to  God  to  deliver  yon  from  perseMition,  and  here  is 
more  than  deliverance,  here  is  political  power,  it  s  pro« 
mised  that  kings  shall  be  nursing  fathers,  and  queens 
nursing  mothers  to  the  church,  and  lo  the  promise  ful- 
filled, they  put  us  to  the  breast !  It  is  written  that  the 
saints  shall  inherit  the  earth,  and  now  that  it  is  offered 
us,  shall  we  refuse  it.  1  greatly  venerate,  njo«lerator, 
my  very  venerable  and  worthy  father,  who  lias  just 
spoken.  But,  really  sir,  1  much  doubt  if  he  be  as  ca- 
pable of  judging  of  the  state  of  things,  in  the  present 
times,  as  he  was  fifty  year?  ago.  T;se  state  of  society  is 
vastly  altered,  all  thing?  are  improved,  and  1  think  it 
will  be  prudent,  and  were  I  answering  to  my  equal,  I 
should  think  it  no  more  titan  justice,  f«>r  those  who  are 
just  stepping  out  of  the  church,  and  out  of  the  world, 
prudently  and  tiracously,  and  with  a  good  grace, 
to  surrender  a  little  of  the  (SirectJon  of  both  into 
younger  and  more  vigorous  hands.'' 

Well  sir,  the  reformation  took  place.  The  fiend 
triumphed,  and  left  it  to  the  church,  wirh  her  own 
hand,  to  complete  a  system  of  tyranny,  that  left  man- 
kind no  liberty  in  the  use  of  any  one  faculty  of  soul  or 
body. 

But  in  the  true  reformation,  of  which  we  are 
speaking,  the  fiend  saw  the  regeneration  of  the 
world.  He  saw  a  tremendous  sight — the  blood  of 
Jesus  proclaimed  aloud  by  a  thousand  tongues — 
bis  spirit  shed  on  tens  of  thousands:  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures their  daily  study,  translated  into  their  own  lan- 
guages ;  and  their  own  languages  the  vehicle  of  their 
praises  and  their  prayers  :  and  their  high,  their  lofty 
claim,  the  liberty  of  ordering  the  whole  of  their  con- 
duct according  to  the  prescriptions  of  that  word  alone. 
Could  Satan  view  such  a  scene  without  dismay  !    He 


109 

saw  that  in  a  very  short  time,  they  would  sweep  igiio= 
ranee,  superstition,  and  tyranny  in  all  its  forms,  out  of 
Europe,  and  out  of  the  world  :  he  saw  that  they  mul- 
tiplied faster  than  all  his  tyrants,  of  both  breeds,  could 
kill  them.  He  therefore  fell  upon  a  new  plan.  He 
must  make  themselves  the  instruments  of  their  own 
ruin.  How  ?  not  by  chopping  off  toes  arid  fingers,  not 
by  slitting  noses  and  cropping  ears,  but  by  corrupting 
their  blood  at  the  fountain  of  the  heart.  By  corrupting 
their  grand  doctrine,  justification  by  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ.  The  doctrine  itself  could  not  be  de- 
nied all  at  once.  The  whole  body  of  the  reformed  be- 
lieved it,  and  had  a  thousand  texts  of  Scripture  to  sup- 
port it ;  and  would  have  given  up  their  whole  religion, 
their  Bibles,  and  all  their  hopes,  the  moment  they  gave 
up  this  doctrine.  And  that  was  a  sacrifice  he  knew 
they  could  not,  and  would  not  make.  And  if  they 
kept  that  doctrine,  he  might  annoy,  but  he  could  not 
triumph  over  them.  They  would  reach  the  portals  of 
glory  at  last.  Corrupted  it  must  be.  But  how  ?  By 
making  them  philosophers,  by  starting  questions  which 
they  cannot  answer,  and  whenever  they  give  an  igno- 
rant answer,  accept  it,  get  it  into  their  creed,  into  their 
pulpits,  into  all  their  ideas  respecting  divine  things  : 
and  then,  getting  a  philosopher  of  fine  brain,  and  logi- 
cal talents,  and  making  him  take  their  own  foolish  phi- 
losophy, and  argue  it  against  them,  and  show  them 
that  by  the  laws  of  that  intellect  which  God  has  given 
them,  if  they  reason  from  their  own  principles,  they 
must  in  the  end,  give  up  some  part  of  God's  truth. 

The  event  was  well  calculated.  In  all  this  we  are 
only  supposing  the  devil  to  have  been  a  good  logician. 
And  every  logician  knows,  that  one  of  the  finest  trips 
within  the  wrestling  ring  of  sophistry,  consists  in  ask- 


110 

ing  a  question,  and  if  the  respondent  answers  wrong, 
don't  touch  hlni  yet — ask  him  to  prove  its  connection 
with  the  truth  which  he  is  defending,  and  you  impugn- 
ing ;  he  does  it  ardently,  and  as  he  imagines  irrefuta- 
bly. The  sophism  is  now,  by  the  chemical  attraction 
of  the  imagination,  identified  with  the  truth.  But  if 
you  are  a  true  sophist,  don't  touch  him  yet : — ask  him 
again  what  good  consequences  will  flow  from  the 
whole.  He  proves  one  good  consequence  and  another, 
and  these  generate  other  consequences.  Now  clench 
him.  Revive  the  answer  to  your  first  question,  de- 
monstrate from  other  principles,  that  it  is  absolutely 
wrong,  he  will  struggle,  but  he  must  submit  at  last ; 
and  you  cut  up  all  his  fine  consequences,  and  the  truth 
which  he  united  to  them,  shares  their  fate.  You  have 
triumphed  ;  and  so  triumphs  the  fiend,  when  he  cheats 
the  gospel  minister  in  a  little  bit  of  false  philosophy, 
and  persuades  him  to  mingle  it  with  the  churches  food; 
the  pure  gospel  of  Christ. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  particular  idea  which  has 
given  rise  to  this  whole  discussion,  and  has  been  treat- 
ed as  so  dangerous  a  sophism,  and  false  philosophy,  is 
to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  the  most  distinguished 
chiefs  of  the.  Calvanistic  churches,  and  is  heard  in  the 
sermons  of  most  Calvanistic  preachers.  It  must  be 
admitted  that  this  is  matter  of  fact.  And  though  I  am 
not  quite  sure  that  it  is  altogether  innoxious  there — 
for  it  has  generated  questions,  whether  the  essence  of 
saving  faitli  consists  in  believing  that  Jesus  Christ  died 
intentionally  to  save  me — it  has  created  troubles  in 
many  honest,  anxious  hearts,  respecting  their  right 
to  believe  the  gospel — and  some  things  else  perhaps  : 
yet  it  has  been,  in  a  great  degree,  neutralised  by  the 
stubborn  faith,  the  glorious  characteristic  of  the  Cal- 


Ill 

vanistic  family.  For  although  consequences  after  con- 
sequence, in  a  train  of  argument,  should  be  carrying  a 
Calvanist  towards  the  gulph  of  error,  the  moment  he 
gets  his  foot  on  a  text  of  Scripture  which  he  under- 
stands, he  recovers  his  feet.  How  he  got  there,  per- 
haps he  knows  not,  perhaps  he  cares  not,  but  he  is  sure 
he  is  right. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  cautioned,  that  there  are  among 
those  who  hold  this  idea,  men  who  are  unquestioned 
philosophers,  on  every  ground  within  the  range  of  li- 
beral science,  and  no  where  so  much  philosophers  as 
on  the  grouud  of  Christianity.  I  rejoice  in  asserting 
that  it  is  so  :  and  did  I  not  know  that  they  are  a  mag- 
nanimous race,  who  love  truth,  and  love  the  man,  who 
utters  it,  I  should  blush  for  my  own  insignificance, 
while  I  thus  speak. 

After  all,  preaching  the  philosophy  of  Christianity, 
is  not  preaching  the  gospel.  Perhaps  there  is  too  much 
preaching  of  this  philosophy  of  Christianity.  1  do  not 
presume  to  judge  the  men  who  are  capable.  They 
are  capable  of  judging  for  themselves  ;  but  I  give  my 
opinion.  That  it  is  imprudent  and  dangerous  to  preach 
the  philosophy  of  Christianity,  unless  on  the  ground, 
and  at  the  time,  that  the  devil's  philosophy  is  publicly, 
and  from  the  pulpit,  troubling  the  church.  In  that  case 
you  have  no  choice,  you  must  gaff  chicken  against 
chicken,  the  true  philosophy,  against  the  false,  and 
look  on — never  fear,  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  main. 

I  said  I  trembled  for  the  day  when  Calvinists  should 
turn  philosophers,  and  let  the  churches  look  to  it  and 
tremble  too.  It  is  this  philosophy  of  Christianity 
which  we  too  often  hear,  and  always  complain  that  we 
do  not  understand  it.  And  this  very  philosophy  of 
Christianity  is  most  frequently  taken  up  by  our  young- 


lis 

est  men,  that's  the  danger.  God  knows  in  what  a  man- 
iier  they  frequently  manage  the  matter  !  You  shall  see 
a  youth  just  licensed,  assuming  the  most  dangerous 
positions  in  all  the  wide  universe  of  Christianity,  and 
challenging  to  conflict,  single-handed,  the  most  fearful 
champions  that  ever  the  devil  sent  to  hew  down  the 
armies  of  tlie  living  God. 

If  this  plain  speaking  should  be  received  with  a 
sneer,  as  if  it  were  only  the  result  of  the  vanity  of  age 
irritated  by  the  vanity  of  youth,  let  them  cry — Go  up 
bald  head  ! — In  defiance  of  what  mortal  man  can 
think  or  say  of  me,  1  tell  the  young,  and  tell  the  old, 
and  I  tell  the  whole  of  you,  that  this  everlasting 
preaching  of  the  philosophy  of  Christianity  by  all  sorts 
of  men  of  all  sizes,  will  work  mischief.  We  have  got 
one  theorist  already,  and  perhaps  some  other  may  be 
just  putting  on,  and  flapping  his  wings,  for  an  aerial 
flight.  0  be  admonished,  and  keep  the  ground,  re- 
member the  fate  of  Icarus.  The  pinions  you  have,  are 
borrowed  pinions,  and  they  are  stuck  together  with 
wax  ;  and  assuredly  they  will  melt,  and  down  you 
come. 

Nititur  pennis  vitro  daturus 
Nomina  ponto. 

If  you  must  have  an  aerial  flight  wait  till  wings 
have  grown  on  your  own  shoulders.  You  tell  me  you 
have  a  new  theory  which  will  be  of  vast  service,  in- 
deed you  dont  see  the  extent  of  it,  it  is  so  large  :  well 
go  on  in  secret  and  unravel  the  mystery.  0  that  would 
require  a  long  time,  and  all  that  time  the  world  will 
want  the  use  of  it.  I  will  publish  it  to  the  church, 
and  improve  it  by  the  objestions  and  suggestions  of 
others  :  and  then,  if  it  is  found  worth  nothing,  or  per- 


113 

jiicious,  T  shall  retract  it.  Will  you?  In  the  name  o£ 
your  Lord,  how  dare  you  throw  into  the  midst  of  hia 
church  this  unknown  thing?  VV'^hatif  it  should  turn  out 
some  monstrous  hydra,  and  devour  the  sons  of  men  ? 
And  though  somebody,  though  yourself  should  at  last 
slay  the  monster,  will  that  resuscitate  those  whom  it 
has  devoured  ? 

You  tell  me  that  you  see  something  dimly  twink- 
ling through  the  mist,  on  the  field  of  Christianity,  and 
you  promise  yourself  a  discovery,  but  it  is  difficult. 
I  ask,  did  you  go  out  to  look  for  difficulties,  that  you 
might  have  the  glory  of  ranking  with  discoverers  ? 
Then  the  devil  must  have  been  your  guide.  And  yon- 
der he  is,  in  that  dim  light,  and  as  you  advance  it  will 
grow  brighter  and  brighter,  and  carry  you  on  farther  and 
farther,  now  towards  this  point  of  the  compass,  and  now 
towards  that,  till  at  last,  if  divine  grace  interpose  not, 
down  it  goes,  and  down  you  go  in  some  Seibonian  bog. 
Did  you  challenge  the  fiend,  or  did  the  fiend  challenge 
you  ?  If  you  challenged,  mind  you  must  fight  the 
battle  without  a  second.  You'll  be  beaten,  and  killed 
too,  unless  some  one  comes  by,  and  rescues  you  out  of 
his  hands.  But  did  the  fiend  meet  you  at  your  mas- 
ter's work,  and  clutch  you  ?  then  you  must  buckle  to, 
your  master  has  pitted  his  own  blood  against  Satanic* 
powers  ;  himself  for  your  second  ;  let  no  one  hear  your 
voice  but  him  ;  and  be  cool.  And  if  the  field  be  the 
philosophy  of  Christianity,  long  and  dubious  will  this 
conflict  be  :  and  bitterly  shalt  thou  l)leed,  and  mourn- 
fully shalt  thou  groan,  and  dolefully  shalt  thou  call  on 
thy  master  for  help.  And  when  all  thy  veins  are 
sluiced,  and  thou  liest  wallowing  in  thy  own  blood, 
and  all  thy  joints  dislocated,  and  every  bone  in  thy  body 
broken  :  in  the  last  deadly  grasp  of  desperate  deter- 

Q 


1 


114j 

mination,  just  as  the  film  begins  to  cover  thy  eye,  thy 
master  will  give  the  victory.  Ahd  thou  shalt  find  thy- 
self Tar  stronger  and  sprightlier  than  when  thou  com- 
mencedest  the  conflict :  a  very  feeble  thing  in  thine  own 
eyes,  but  thy  master  will  be  glorious  in  thy  eyes.  Thou 
wilt  never  desire  such  another  conflict  :  though  thou 
"Wilt  not  decline  it  on  receiving;  thy  master's  orders. 
For  now  experience  has  assured  thee  that  he  will 
stand  thy  second,  and  in  all  his  battles  bring  thee  off 
more  than  conqueror. 


SECTION  XL 

But,  reader,  I  must  now  loolc  to  myself,  for  I  am  not 
sufficiently  philanthropic  to  love  every  body  but  my- 
self. After  this  long  and  laborious  day's  work,  in 
reaping,  and  threshing,  and  winnowing,  what  have  I 
got  to  myself,  as  my  wages  ?  Why,  reader,  here  it  is  ! 
just  two  pickles  of  chaff!  Mr.  M^Chord  put  them  to- 
gether according  to  the  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the 
metaphysical  community,  and  they  have  begotten  a 
third  pickle  ;  and  by  and  by  intermarriages  will  take 
place,  and  marriages  such  as  Caesar  describes  in  a  cer- 
tain island,  and  the  earth  will  be  replenished  with 
them. 

I  say  I  have  gotten  two  pickles  of  chaff  for  my  share 
of  the  spoils — two  sophistries  of  false  philosophy, 
which  the  devil  had  mixed  in  the  Lord's  field  of  wheat. 
Here  they  are — That  Adam's  sin  is  imputed  to  man, 
BECAUSE  they  descend  from  him  by  ordinary  generation 
— And  that  Christ's  righteousness  is  imputable  to  men, 
BECAUSE  he  represented  them  in    the  covenant  of 


±15 

The  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  teaches,  that  God  does 
impute  Adam's  sin  to  his  posterity:  and  that  God 
does  impute  the  righteousness  of  his  Son  to  believers  : 
and  that  he  offers  that  righteousness  to  all  men,  pro- 
mising eternal  life  to  every  man  who  receives  it  by 
faith,  and  threatening  eternal  death  to  all  who  re- 
ject it. 

This  is  the  gospel ;  I  have  added  nothing  to  it.  I 
sucked  it  from  the  blessed  breasts  of  the  Holy  Spouse 
of  God  when  1  was  a  babe.  And  now  that  I  am  a  man, 
shall  I  permit  any  one  to  stain  those  blessed  breasts 
with  bitter  poisonous  drugs,  to  cause  the  babes  to  turn 
away  with  nausea  ?  or  if  in  fainting  hunger  they  must 
have  milk,  shall  I  permit  the  bitter  poison  to  mingle 
with  that  milk,  and  throw  their  tender  bodies  into  con- 
vulsions ?  And  shall  any  fear  of  any  thing  that  man 
can  do,  deter  me  from  washing  it  away  in  the  very  best 
manner  and  most  effectual  way  that  I  can  devise  ?  Oh, 
no  !  mother — such  is  not  thy  son ;  No  !  babes — such  is 
not  thy  brother  ! 

Reader,  thou  and  I  lie  chained  in  the  same  dun- 
geon, under  sentence  of  death,  to  be  hanged  on  the 
same  tree ;  there  is  no  appeal,  for  the  sentence 
is  pronounced  by  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  universe. 
There  is  no  escaping  hence,  for  our  keeper  is  omnis- 
cient— and  there  can  be  no  rescue,  for  the  execution- 
er is  omnipotent.  And  is  it  not  very  foolish,  and  very 
wicked  in  us  to  be  thus  breaking  each  others  heads 
with  the  very  chains  which  we  wear,  disputing  about 
how  that  judge  can  be  just  in  pronouncing  that  sen- 
tence ? 

But,  reader,  here  is  a  strange  thing  !  The  Son  of  the 
King  himself  has  just  come  into  our  dungeon  with  a 
lamp  which  makes  it  brighter  than  day.  And  he  tells 
us  that  he  has  given  himself  to  be  hanged  on  the  same 


116 

tree  that  we  wfere  to  have  been  hanged  on,  in  consc- 
qnence  ofan  a2;r'"ement  between  him  and  thfl  King  his 
Father,  that  if  he  would  so  die  he  should  have  a  right 
to  come  iulo  our  prison,  and  offer  us  life  ;  and  he  pro- 
mises that  if  we  follow  him,  he  will  treat  us  as  his  own 
brothers,  and  the  King  his  Father  will  treat  us  as  his 
own  sons  ;  we  shall  wear  the  very  same  robes  he 
wears  himself;  we  shall  sit  at  the  same  table,  and  eat 
the  same  food  with  himself  ;  that  wherever  he  goes  he 
will  take  us  with  him,  tliat  he  will  give  us  a  share  of 
all  his  honours,  and  that  when  he  triumphs,  we  shall 
triumph  with  him  ;  and  that  this  sort  of  life  shall  con- 
tinue through  all  eternity. 

Reader,  shall  we  take  him  at  his  word,  and  go 
along  with  him  ?  That  open,  honest  brow  bespeaks 
him  no  deceiver  ;  that  indescribable  eye  beams  only 
with  benevolence  ;  such  lips  as  those  never  could  utter 
a  falsehood  ;  Reader,  arise,   and  let  us  follow  him  ! 

Or  say,  shall  we  sit  down,  and  keep  him  standing, 
and  waiting  our  leisure,  while  we  cross  question  him  ? 
Let  us  ask  him — What  right  had  you  to  die  for  us  ? 
Was  it  just  in  the  King  your  Father  to  impute  our  sins 
to  you,  and  put  you  to  death  for  us  ?  How  can  he  im- 
pute your  righteousness  to  us,  and  give  us  all  the  fine 
things  you  promise,  because  you  died  on  the  tree  on 
which  we  were  condemned  to  die  ?  Remember,  Sir, 
we  are  rational  creatures,  every  thing  ought  to  be 
made  visible  to  rational  understandings.  And  if  you 
can  satisfy  us  on  these  points,  we  pledge  ourselves  to 
go  witii  you — provided,  always,  that  no  new  objec- 
tion should  occur.  Reader,  is  this  the  way  to  go  to 
work  ? 

0  reader,  all  that  is  preached  from  our  pulpits  is 
not  the  gospel.    1  wish  that  one  half  of  it  may  be 


117 

founri  gospel  in  the  judgment  day.     I  cannot  get  out 
of  this  subject. 

My  leg  is  broken,  run  and  call  a  physician.  He 
seats  himself  gravely  by  my  agonizing  couch,  and  thus 
begins.  ^'  Before  I  bind  up  this  broken  bone,  1  must 
first  tboroiigdly  satisfy  thee  concerning  all  the  possible 
w  ays,  and  means,  and  manners  in  which  bones  can  pos- 
sibly be  broken  !  In  the  iirst  place,  then,  some  men 
fall  and  break  their  own  bones;  and,  in  the  second 
place,  some  men  fall  and  break  their  own  bones,  and 
other  people's  bones  too.  O  reader,  it  is  a  tearful  jest; 
and  I  laugh,  and  I  weep,  alternately,  over  my  paper. 

Is  not  this  precisely  what  we  are  doing,  preaching 
dissertations  how  bones  can  be  broken  ?  How  it  was 
possible  that  Adam  broke  his  own  bones,  and  broke 
our  bones.  It  is  not  pressing  home  on  sinners  their 
guilt — but  explaining  how  they  came  to  be  guilty,  that 
engages  us.  What  matter  how  they  became  guilty^  • 
since  they  are  so  ? 

Let  us  dismiss  the  quack,  and  call  a  good  physician, 
if  we  should  not  mistake  the  mere  title  of  a  profession- 
al  man,  for  real  professional  talent. 

Dear  Doctor,  my  leg  is  broken  ;  the  pain  is  excruci- 
ating ;  cure  me  quickly.  Sir,  before  I  proceed  to  the 
cure,  it  is  necessary  that  I  inform  thee  how  broken  legs 
are  healed.  I  care  nothing  about  how  they  are  healed. 
Heal  my  broken  leg.  You  must  know  that  the  human 
bone  is  composed — I  know  nothing  about  its  composi- 
tion. You  ought  to  know  this  much,  at  least,  that  out 
of  the  sides  of  the  fracture  of  a  fractured  bone — Be- 
gone, ni  be  a  dead  man  before  this  dissertation  is 
ended.  Go  quickly,  and  call  a  physician  who  actually 
has  set  a  broken  bone. 

Here  sir,  is  a  physician;  who  says  he  has  healed 


118 

many  broken  bones.  Dear  Doctor,  here's  my  le^. 
Let  me  have  it.  A  dreadful  compound  fracture ;  but 
my  life  for  yours  not  mortal ;  only  trust.  There's  the 
remedy  that  never  did  fail,  and  never  will  fail,  so  long 
as  there  are  men  on  earth.  The  remedy  is  applied  ; 
the  bone  is  healed. 

Reader,  is  not  this  the  right  way  of  doing  business? 
Convince  men  that  they  are  (no  matter  how  they  are) 
sinners;  and  depend  upon  it,  when  they  are  con- 
vinced that  they  are  sinners,  the  thought  is  so  absorb- 
ing, that  it  leaves  only  one  other  thought  in  the  whole 
compass  of  the  human  soul —  What  shall  I  do  to  be 
saved  P  Answer  that  question,  for  pity's  sake,  as  quick 
as  you  can. 

I  cannot  get  out  of  this  subject  yet.  But  as  I  am 
preaching  to  clergymen,  the  public,  I  hope,  will  ex- 
cuse my  lengthiness.  The  clergy  will  not  take  it 
amiss.  They  know  the  Jordan  sometimes  overflows 
its  banks. 

Fellow-soldiers,  the  fiend  has  out-generaled  us. 
We  are  entirely  in  the  wrong.  He  has  kept  us  a  great 
deal  of  our  time  preaching  for  his  interest,  and  not  for 
the  interest  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  mean  we  have  been 
preaching  something  which  is  not  the  gospel;  and 
which  has  as  effectually  served  the  devil's  interests,  as 
preaching  the  gospel  subserves  the  interest  of  the  Re- 
deemer ;  and  we  have  been  doing  the  former  while 
we  should  have  been  doing  the  latter. 

Tell  me  how  sinners'  souls  are  exercised,  all  the 
time  a  preacher  is  showing  how  it  could  be  just  in  God, 
to  commit  the  eternal  safety  of  mankind  to  Adam  ? 
How  it  can  be  just  in  God  to  punish  them  for  the  guilt 
in  Adam  ?  By  what  possible  means,  and  through  what 
possible  channels  could  Adam's  transgression  reach 


119 

them  ?  Why,  they  sit  asking  themselves  these  ques- 
tions, which  their  preacher  is  in  vain  attempting  to 
solve.  How  could  it  be  just  in  God  to  make  Adam 
my  covenant  head  ?  How  could  Adam  sin  for  me  ? 
How  can  God  impute  Adam's  sin  to  me  ?  Through 
what  possible  channel  could  Adam's  sin  reach  me  ? 
What  is  the  amount  of  all  this  on  the  mind  of  a  sinner  ? 
Recollect  how  you  felt  yourself,  when  as  a  sinner  you 
heard  these  things.  Ask  any  candid  man  who  is  not 
of  your  sect,  how  he  feels  under  such  sermons.  And 
what  will  be  better  than  all,  as  a  test  of  this  matter, 
ask  your  own  heart  how  it  feels.  Is  it  softened  ?  is  it 
melted  with  a  conviction  of  its  sinful  condition  ?  No, 
no  !  But  it  is  lost  in  stupid  wonder  :  wondering  how 
it  is  possible  that  these  things  can  be  true,  which  God 
has  declared  to  be  true.  Now,  if  exciting  doubts  and 
wonders  respecting  the  truth  of  God's  word,  and  the 
justice  of  the  divine  dispensations,  be  subservient  of 
Satan's  kingdom,  judge  ye  ! 

But  there  is  a  far,  far  more  loudly  crying  sin  to  an- 
swer for.  When  the  preacher  is  giving  him  a  long 
dissertation  ;  shewing  him  exactlyi  how  it  is  possible 
that  God  can  offer  him  everlasting  life — the  poor  trem- 
bling convict,  wringing  his  hands,  cries  out  aloud,  I 
do  not  ask  how  it  is  possible — but  I  ask,  does  he  offer 
it  to  me  ?  When  the  preacher  is  proving  to  him,  and 
showing  to  him  in  what  manner  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  can  be  imputed  to  him,  his  bursting  soul  ex- 
claims, I  ask  not  in  what  manner  it  may  be  mine,  but 
can  I  get  it  at  all  ?  While  the  preacher  is  proving,  by 
a  metaphysical  process,  that  eternal  life  may  he  offered 
to  all  men,  in  a  perfect  consistency  with  all  the  divine 
perfections  and  purposes  of  Jehovah,  the  poor  con- 
vict's soul  cries  within  itself,  I  don't  care  about  all  that 


ISO 

— is  there  any  oflPer  of  salvation  for  me  ?    All  tliis  time 
not  one  word  of  the  gospel   has  been  preached  ;  and 
the  poor  afflicted   souls  are  all  the  time  lost  in  doubts 
and   wonders,  how  it  is   possible  that  Jesus  Christ 
should  have  suffered  for  them  : — how  God  could  pos-. 
sibly  impute  their  sins  to   his  own  Son  : — how  it  is 
POSSIBLE  that  an  offer  of  salvation   should  be  made  to 
him?    That  is,   he  is   tortured  with   questions  about 
God's  right  to  give  salvation — Christ's  right  to  procure 
salvation,  and  the   preacher's  right   to  offer  salvation, 
and  his  own  right  to  accept  salvation  ;  but  all  this  time 
there  is  no  salvation  at  all.     All  this  time  Satan  looks 
on,  rejoices  that  the  salvation  of  the  convict  is  delayed 
— delights  in  the  torments  of  his  conscience — rejoices 
that  possibilities  have  been  talked  of,  and  not  realities : 
that  rights  have  been  only  demonstrated  ;  but  the  thing 
to  which  the  right  is  proved,  not  put  into  the  possession 
of  him  who  has  a  right  to  it :  exults  to  see  that  it  is 
considered  so  far  a  dubious  point,  that  it  requires  proof 
that  the   preacher  has   any  right  at  all  to  oft'er  salva- 
vation  :  and  the  poor  creature  is  led  to  awful  doubts, 
whether  he   has  any  right  to  accept  of  eternal  life. 
Now  I  ask,  is  not  this  doing  the  very  thing  the  devil 
would  wish  you  to  do?     If  he  can  keep  you  out  of  pul- 
pits,  he  will.     If  he  cannot,  what  can  he  do  better 
than  to  employ  you  in  discussions  which  will  delay 
the  coming  of  the  sinner  to  Christ — which  will  fill  his 
mind  with  doubts  about  his  right  to  come  to  Christ — - 
which  will  call  in  question,  whether  Christ  will  re- 
ceive him,  and  the  Father  accept  him  ?    All  such  dis- 
cussions before  a  Christian  congregation,  (with  very, 
very,  very  rare  exceptions)  are.  What  is  the  use  of  the 
doctrine  of  Adam's  representation  and  original  sin  ? 
Aye,  what  is  the  use  of  this  doctrine  in  the  grand  arch 


121 

of  the  rainbow  of  the  covenant.  For  surely  it  is  one 
thing  to  say  a  proposition  is  true,  and  anothe  •  o  de- 
termine what  that  truth  good  for.  The  doctrine  of 
Adam's  representation  and  original  sin  is  in  the  Bible  ; 
but  the  question  is,  What  was  it  put  there  for,  and 
what  use  ought  we  to  put  it  to?  Here  are  a  few  ele- 
ments which  I  mean  to  make  use  of  in  solving  this 
question,  for  my  own  individual  satisfaction. 

1.  I  will  ask  myself,  if  ever  any  prophet,  sent  by 
God,  of  old,  to  awaken  a  sinful  age,  awed  their  con- 
sciences, and  enlightened  their  understanding,  by  de- 
monstrating Adam's  representative  character,  and  prov- 
ing that  mankind  are  guilty  of  his  sin?  Or  did  they 
thunder  against  the  sins,  the  actual,  the  peculiar  sins 
of  that  very  age ;  ardently  wishing  to  convince  men 
that  they  were  sinners? 

S.  I  shall  enquire  into  John  the  Baptist's  preaching, 
and  examine  how  he,  who  came  to  prepare  the  way  of 
our  Lord,  thundering  the  law,  that  Jesus  miglit  flash 
the  light  of  the  gospel — how  he  produced  correction  in 
that  viperous  age,  when  the  tongue  that  uttered  truth, 
sacrificed  the  head  it  belonged  to.  Was  it  by  preach- 
ing the  representative  character  of  Adam  and  original 
sin  :  or  by  reproving  men  for  their  sins,  their  own 
sins,  their  peculiar  sins,  with  all  their  aggravations  ? 

3.  I  shall  again  read  over  carefully,  the  sermons  of 
the  master  himself,  v.  ho  knew  perfectly  well  how  to 
preach  his  own  gospel ;  and  if  I  find  him  proving 
Adam's  representative  character,  and  urging  home  ori- 
ginal sin  on  the  consciences  of  his  auditors,  and  prov- 
ing to  them  that  God  is  just  in  all  this,  then  the  pro- 
blem will  be  solved.  Or  if  I  find  him  charging  home 
on  the  age,  the  sins  wliich  that  age  had  committed, 

R 


13S 

and  were  committing,  then  the  problem  will  be  solved. 
He  himself  was  living  law. 

4.  I  sliall  next  enquire  how  the  Apostles,  in  the  days 
of  Pentecost,  awakened  sinners  to  a  sense  of  their 
guilt. 

5.  I  shall  enquire  what  is  the  meaning  of  some 
strange  things  that  we  meet  with,  in  the  writings  of 
some  good  old  authors  ;  and  have  often  heard  from  the 
lips  of  some  good  old  men  ;  that  original  sin  is  the  last 
sin  men  are  convinced  of. 

These  and  some  other  enquiries  I  intend  fo  make^, 
will  afford  me  a  satisfaction  as  to  what  the  doctrines  of 
Adam's  representation  and  original  sin  are  not  useful. 
If  I  iind,  on  enquiry,  that  they  are  never  once  employ- 
ed by  the  sacred  inspired  ambassadors  of  the  skies,  in 
awakening  a  guilty,  perishing  age,  from  the  fatal  se- 
curity, to  a  sense  of  their  sins,  and  a  sacred  terror  of 
Jehovah's  wrath,  then  shall  I  conclude,  that  these  doc- 
trines are  of  no  use  in  awakening  sinners,  and.  bring- 
ing them  to  Jesus. 

Ah  !  cries  some  prudent,  cautious  man,  take  care  ! 
This  may  excite  a  suspicion  that  that  doctrine  is  not 
true,  or  at  least,  that  you  doubt  its  being  useful.  Well, 
since  men  must  have  their  suspicions,  let  them  suspect 
what  they  please.  I  tell  them,  and  I  tell  those  who 
deny  the  doctrine,  that  it  is  in  the  Bible.  But  the 
question  is,  to  what  end  is  it  there  ?  What  purposes 
does  it  serve  ?  Here  is  a  stone  ;  well,  what  is  the  use 
of  it — To  place  in  a  building — to  cut  for  a  seal — to 
set  in  a  ring  ?    What  is  it  good  for  ? 

I  have  as  good  a  right  to  trouble  the  church  of  God 
as  others  have.  And  I  will  give  this  trouble  to  the 
brains  of  ministers,  in  order  to  save  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  to  the  souls  of  their  people.   I  will  propose  this 


123 

problem  to  theni — IVTiat  is  precisely  the  use  which  the 
sacred  writers  make  of  the  doctrine  of  Adam^s  repre- 
sentation and  original  sin  P 

Till  this  problem  is  solved,  let  them  labour  to  con- 
vince sinners  that  they  are  sinners.  No  great  matter 
how  they  came  to  be  such,  since  they  actually  are  so, 
and  under  an  awful  doom.  And  the  moment  they 
confess  guilt,  invite  them  to  Jesus.  When  they  ar& 
once  safe  in  his  securing  arms,  they  can  ask  him  many 
things  as  they  lean  on  his  bosom.  He  will  teach 
every  day  more  and  more  of  the  wickedness  of  their 
desperately  wicked  nature  ;  and  perhaps  may  lead 
them  up  to  view  the  desperate  wickedness  of  the 
whole  race  of  men,  and  to  see  something  respecting 
Adam's  representative  character.  But  they  are  his,  and 
don't  trouble  them  with  puzzling  problems.  If  they 
cannot  see  that  they  are  guilty  of  Adam's — caution 
them  only  not  to  deny  the  doctrine,  to  repent  of  their 
own  sins,  and  rely  on  the  grace  of  their  Lord. 

When  the  above  problem  is  resolved,  the  resolver 
will  have  a  right  to  propose  his  question  ;  and  will 
greatly  oblige  me  if  he  proposes  the  following  :  What 
is  the  precise  use  which  the  sacred  writers  make  of 
the  doctrine  of  election,  and  of  ChrisVs  representa- 
tion ? 

One  thing  has  long  been  ascertained,  that  it  is  not 
the  doctrine  which  should  be  taught  to  poor  trembling 
convicts  under  a  sense  of  the  displeasure  of  the  Awful 
Supreme. 


134 


SECTION  XII. 

The  reason  ivJiy  eternal  life  is  offered  to  all  men  in  the 
Gospel, 

That  salvation  is  freely  offered  to  all  men  who  hear 
the  gospel — and  that  every  individual  man  who  hears 
the  gospel,  is  commanded  to  accept  that  salvation,  un- 
der the  pains  and  penalty  of  everlasting  condemnation, 
in  case  of  a  refusal — are  truths  so  obviously  taught  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  one  wonders  how  any  hu- 
man being  should  ever  have  entertained  a  doubt  on 
the  subject. 

Those,  however,  who  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  elec- 
tion— who  believe  that  Jtisus  Christ  died  to  save  a 
certain  number  of  mankind,  have  been  repeatedly  and 
sorely  pressed  to  assign  a  cause  for  offering  salvation 
to  the  unelected,  which  should  vindicate  the  moral 
candour  and  justice  of  Jehovah.  And  so  long  as  they 
maintained  that  the  imputahility  of  Christ's  righteous- 
ness depended  on  his  representative  characters  in  the 
covenant  of  grace — so  long,  I  humbly  conceive,  their 
answer  was  unsatisfactory.  We  ought  to  speak  freely 
and  openly  to  our  brothers  of  Adam's  family ;  and  in 
this  spirit  I  do  declare,  that  I  never  could  be  satisfied 
with  the  current  explanations. 

And  yet  nothing  can  be  more  certain,  than  that  God 
is  candid,  true,  and  just,  in  this  offer  of  life  to  man- 
kind in  general  :  And  we  can  see  and  know  that  all 
his  moral  attributes  stand  clear  of  imputation  in  this 
offer.  Nay,  we  shall  attempt  to  show  that  all  his 
moral  attributes  required  that  he  should  make  such  an 


125 

offev  of  salvation  to  all  mankind.  We  shall  show  that 
God  is  not  only  just  in  this  general  oifer,  but  tliat  he 
would  not  have  been  just  not  to  give  it  to  all,  provided 
he  thought  proper  to  give  it  to  any. 

In  surveying  such  a  statue  as  the  Apollo  Belvidere, 
one  artist  may  be  most  struck  with  this  profile,  and  ano- 
ther with  that;  while  all  admit  that  it  is  a  miracle  of  art. 
In  like  manner,  different  men  contemplating  the  gene- 
ral call  of  the  gospel  may  be  differently  affected.  One 
may  view  it  as  a  merciful  act  in  God  so  to  offer  life  to 
offenders :  another  may  consider  it  as  some  unaccount- 
able mystery,  which  he  is  sure  God  can  unravel,  though 
he  owns  that  he  cannot.  Now  I  must  say,  that  this 
general  offer  of  salvation  to  all  men  by  Jesus  Christ, 
never  appears  to  me  so  glorious  as  when  it  is  placed 
under  the  direct  beam  of  pure  justice.  My  meaning 
is  this,  that  if  God  reveals  the  righteousness  of  Christ 
to  mankind,  he  must  command  them  to  accept  it  :  and 
that  he  would  not  be  a  just  God  if  he  did  not  so  com- 
mand them. 

The  reasoning  is  as  follows  :  God  does  require  of 
all  men  the  righteousness  of  the  law.  It  must  be  so  ; 
for  if  he  did  not  require  this,  he  could  require  nothing, 
and  all  moral  law,  moral  order,  moral  responsibility, 
would  be  at  an  end.  God  requires  the  righteousness 
of  the  law  ;  but  the  gospel  reveals  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  as  the  righteousness  of  the  law  ;  of  conse- 
quence, God  requires  men  to  present  to  him  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ.  Christ's  righteousness  is  the 
righteousness  of  the  law  :  but  God  requires  the  righte- 
ousness of  the  law  ;  therefore  God  requires  the  righte- 
ousness of  Christ  of  every  man  who  hears  the  gospel 
sound.     Can  any  thing  be  plainer  ?  But  let  us  turn  it 


126 

round  and  around,  and  again  dicies  repetita  placehit ; 
our  admiration  will  increase  with  acquaintance. 

Suppose  God  did  not  require  men  to  present  to  him 
the  righteousness  of  his  Son — then  he  would  not  re- 
quire them  to  present  the  righteousness  of  his  law — 
that  is,  he  would  release  them  from  the  obligation  of 
the  moral  law  altogether.  Is  this  possible  !  Then  our 
high  born  race,  made  only /or  a  little  while  lower  than 
the  angels,  this  glorious  race,  created  in  the  image  of 
God,  must  rank  with  the  beasts  that  perish  ;  no  moral 
law,  no  moral  order,  no  moral  pleasure,  no  moral  re- 
ward !   Such  a  state  of  things  is  inconceivable. 

The  only  possible  evasion  that  the  subtlest  logician 
could  avail  himself  of  in  order  to  keep  clear  of  this 
conclusion  is,  the  allegation  that  God  might  require 
men  personally  to  work  out  the  righteousness  of  tiie 
law,  and  refuse  to  allow  them  the  righteousness  of  the 
Son.  It  is  proper  to  treat  such  subjects  vvitli  great 
modesty  and  fear.  Who  can  say  what  Jehovah  may 
or  may  not  do  ?  Who  shall  set  limits  to  the  Holy  One 
of  Israel  ?  But  I  cannot  conceive  the  supposition  stat- 
ed, to  be  at  all  worthy  of  God.  The  justice  of  God  is 
the  justice  of  a  Being  of  infinite  goodness,  kindness, 
mercy — of  infinite  equity.  And  can  I  suppose  that 
such  a  Being  should  require  a  righteousness  which  is 
not  in  the  ivorld  ;  and  refuse  a  righteousness  which  is 
in  the  world  ?  Can  it  be  supposed  that  he  should  say, 
I  demand  the  righteousness  of  the  law — here  is  the 
righteousness  of  the  law — but  I  do  not  demand  it. 

Culling  from  the  analogies  of  human  things  with 
divine,  let  me  suppose  the  following  case.  My  bro- 
ther was  under  a  contract,  to  effect  a  piece  of  work, 
and  to  receive  ten  thousand  dollars  on  its  completion, 
or  pay  a  fine  of  ten  thousand  dollars  in  case  of  fail- 


127 

ure.  He  fails  to  eflfect  the  work,  and  must  pay  the 
forfeit.  If  now  I  come  forward,  and  pay  down  the  ten 
thonsand  dollars  to  the  original  contractor,  saying  my 
brother  has  failed,  but  I  am  able  to  pay  all  his  debts  ; 
what  should  I  think  or  say  of  that  contractor,  if  he 
were  to  refuse  the  money,  and  cast  my  brother  into 
prison,  under  an  allegation  that  1  was  not  known  in 
the  original  contract? 

I  would  not  push  analogies  too  far,  on  so  vast  and 
awful  a  theme.  If  I  rightly  understand  the  Scriptures, 
it  is  an  act  of  grace  in  God  to  accept  a  vicarious^  in- 
stead of  a  personal  righteousness  ;  and  yet  the  Scrip- 
tures do  not  intimate  that  God  would  be  just  in  reject- 
ing the  righteousness  of  the  law,  when  presented  to 
him.  Let  justice,  equity  and  love,  then,  entwine  their 
unfading  glories !  Let  others  view  matters  in  that 
light  which  is  afforded  them  ;  but  for  my  single  self, 
I  must  say,  that  if  the  righteousness  of  God's  law  is  in 
the  world,  he  wills  to  be  satisfied  with  it !  What  does 
he  ask  ?  The  righteousness  of  his  law.  Does  he  ask 
more  of  me,  or  less  of  me  ?  Neither  less  nor  more. 
And  can  I  imagine  that  the  Father  of  all  mercies,  and 
God  of  all  consolations,  the  Father  of  this  spirit,  and 
the  fashioner  of  this  mortal  body,  will  show  me  the 
real  righteousness  of  his  law,  already  wrought  out  and 
finished,  and  demand  of  me,  not  to  accept  this  righte- 
ousness, but  to  work  out  a  righteousness  of  his  own, 
which  he  knows  I  cannot  do  ? 

There  is  something  in  the  human  mind,  like  an  en- 
larged intuition,  a  sort  of  vision,  which  is  blind  to  the 
slow  steps  of  verbal  logic,  but  perceives  with  assur- 
ance, what  is  in  the  main  truth  :  and  that  intuition, 
or  whatever  it  is,  seems  to  assure  me  that  if  my  elder 
brother  is  both  able  and  willing  to  pay  my  debt ;  my 


128 

heavenly  Father  will  not  refuse  to  accept  his  due, 
merely  because  it  is  not  I,  but  my  elder  brotiier,  that 
has  earned  it  with  sweat  and  toil.  Nay,  when  I  stand 
before  him,  trembling  for  my  doom,  I  think  I  hear  him 
saying  to  me,  your  elder  brother  is  both  able  and  wil- 
ling to  pay  your  debt :  nothing  would  give  him  great- 
er pleasure  :  bid  him  settle  for  you.  Such,  I  must 
think,  is  something  like  the  sentiments  of  the  Father 
of  us  all.  I  cannot  see  how  such  a  glorious  Jehovah 
should  proclaim  salvation  among  his  own  creatures, 
the  work  of  his  own  hands,  and  not  command  them  to 
accept  it. 

A  half  bred  metaphysician  is  a  wonderful  enchanter: 
he  lives  in  the  middle  of  a  great  world  of  words.  If 
you  get  in  you  will  never  get  out,  unless  you  draw 
your  axe,  and  cut  your  way.  Let  me  see.  This 
same  word  represenfaf/oH,  sounds  to  my  ear  very  like 
^vsi\itation.  Old  father  Newton  has  demonstrated 
that  bodies  really  and  truly  do  gravitate,  but  if  you 
ask  him  the  cause,  he  sends  you  to  the  poets  ^'«5  ^' 
tiixeilo  ^ayiic — it  is  thc  wiU  of  God  :  and  all  his  sons  vote 
with  their  old,  father.  What  short  cuts  these  philo- 
sophers take  of  us  !  We  call  for  reasons,  for  causes^ 
for  hows  and  whys,  and  they  with  most  provoking  gra- 
vity give  ws  facts,  plain  naked  facts,  and  nothing  but 
facts.  The  fact  occurs  in  nature,  that's  all.  They 
have  thrown  away  all  this  learned  vocabulary  of 
sounds  about  occult  principles,  and  what  not,  and  are 
content  with  the  ascertainment  of  facts.  And  since 
they  have  acted  in  this  manner  their  work  goes  on 
cheerily.  It  is  amazing  how  they  advance.  An  old 
hoary  headed  philosopher  will  have  to  ask  his  own 
son,  before  the  lad  is  allowed  to  give  a  vote  at  an  elec- 
tion,  what  the  present  state  of  science  is.     Certainly 


129 

the  philosophers  have  got  on  the  right  track  ;  they 
get  along  so  rapidly.  If  they  could  only  he  kept 
from  making  worlds,  it  is  impossihle  to  say  with  what 
brilliancy  science  would  shortly  blaze. 

Now  it  is  to  be  hoped,  that  as  soon  as  divines  be- 
come philosophers,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  their 
work  will  advance  in  the  same  rapid  felicitous  manner. 
Whenever  that  day  comes,  they  will  know  that  in  re- 
spect to  imputation  of  sin  and  righteousness  in  the  co- 
venant of  works,  all  that  can  be  known  is  the  fact  : 
That  in  respect  to  the  reasunahleness  of  that  dispensa- 
tion, all  that  can  he  known  is  that  wjinite  reason  esta- 
blished it :  that  in  respect  to  its  justice^  nothing  can 
be  known  save  th^it  Jehovah  the  source  of  all  justice, 
has  done  it.  If  this  will  satisfy  mankind,  the  preach- 
ers of  the  gospel  can  satisfy  tliem  with  undoubted  scrip- 
tural authority.  And  if  that  will  not  satisfy  them,  why 
let  the  v;orms  crawl  on  their  throne,  and  call  their 
maker  to  account  for  having  made  them  thus.  He 
will  trample  them  in  his  wrath — unless  his  bowels 
should  yearn,  and  then  he  will  give  them  a  new  heart 
and  new  mind  ;  and  they  will  acknowledge  that  he  has 
done  all  things  well.  If  any  one  imagines  that  he 
ever  will  know  any  reason  why  God  created  our  race 
to  be  saved  or  damned,  by  the  imputed  righteousness, 
or  imputed  sin  of  a  representative,  let  me  hasten  to 
cure  him  of  his  delirium  ;  let  me  give  him  a  lethean 
draught,  that  lie  may  forget  his  ttriene  follies,  and 
reconcile  himself  to  his  fate.  This  is  the  medicine  of 
the  mind. 

Isa.  45,  ix.  &c,  ^'  Woe  unto  him  that  striveth  with 
his  maker  !  Let  the  potsherds  strive  with  the  pot- 
sherds of  the  earth.  Shall  the  clay  say  to  him  that 
fashions th  it,  what  makest  thou  ?  Or  thy  work,  He 


130 

hath  no  hands  ?  Woe  unto  him  that  saith  unto  his 
father,  what  hegettest  thou  ?  or  to  the  woman,  what 
hast  thou  brou2;ht  forth  ?'' 

^  ^^  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel, 
and  his  Maker.  Ask  me  of  things  to  come  concern- 
ing my  sons,  and  concerning  the  work  of  my  hands, 
command  ye  me  !  !  !'^ 

I  had  thought  to  have  paraphrased  this  passage  : 
but  T  can't  touch  it.  Who  is  this  that  darkeneth  coun- 
sel by  words  without  wisdom  ?  If  you  can  see — see  : 
If  not,  I  can  do  no  more. 


SECTION  XIII. 

Those  among  men,  who  are  devoted  to  high  intel- 
lectual efforts,  may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  the 
students  of  nature,  and  the  students  of  grace,  jjhiloso- 
phers  and  divines. 

"  One  sire  begat  them,  and  one  mother  bore  V^  And 
sorry  I  am,  when  I  see  any  fraternal  strife  among 
them.  Could  they  but  agree,  they  would  soon  kick 
out  of  the  world  the  bastard  breed  of  sceptics,  infidels, 
and  atheists. 

After  all,  the  divines  are  of  the  nobler  family.  But 
the  philosophers  have,  as  yet,  played  the  man  in  the 
higher  style.  Their  scale  goes  down  to  the  ground 
with  a  most  ponderous  gravity  ;  while  our  scale  kicks 
the  beam,  as  if  there  was  nothing  in  it.  What  can  be 
the  reason  that  for  two  centuries,  less  or  more,  philo- 
sophy should  be  making  such  prodigious  advances, 
and  divinity  standing  stock  still  ? 

Look,  ye  divines,  at  your  twin  brothers  !  There  is 
one,  with  his  crucible  la  one  hand,  and  his  thermome- 


131 

ter  in  the  otlier — covered  all  over  with  sweat  and  cin- 
ders— a  true  son  of  Vulcan,  putting;  nature  to  the  tor- 
ture, to  compel  lier  to  reveal  some  of  her  secrets. 
Look  up  !  there  is  one  of  them  scramblins;  to  the  very 
top  of  the  Andes  !  Now  I  would  not  be  along  side  of 
him  for  all  beneath  the  sun.  What  does  the  fellow 
mean  ?  Is  he  going  to  get  a  tenement  among  the  stars? 
!N  o  !  he  is  a  philosopher,  and  bye  and  bye  he  will 
come  down,  (if  he  should  not  break  his  neck)  and  will 
bring  in  his  pocket  some  lichens  and  mosses,  and  peb- 
bles  :  and  when  he  gets  his  brothers  about  him,  you 
will  wonder  to  hear  what  conclusions  they  will  draw, 
conclusions  which  excite  the  sneer  of  ridicule  only  in 
countenances  where  the  lambent  smile  of  wisdom  ne- 
ver played.  Look  there  !  just  at  your  feet,  there  is 
one  of  them  going  perpendicularly  down  to  the  shades, 
through  the  shaft  of  a  horrible  mine-hole  :  before  fif- 
teen minutes  he  will  be  fifty  fatlioms  into  the  very 
bowels  of  tlie  earth,  among  pitfalls,  and  choak  damps  ; 
and  the  earth  every  moment  threatening  to  cave  in  on 
his  head. 

Well,  are  all  these  men  fools?  No.  They  are 
students  of  nature  ;  and  they  mind  their  books.  What 
is  the  result?  Behold  what  the  God  of  nature  has 
given  them  as  the  reward  of  their  devotion  and  indus- 
try. Tell  any  one  of  these  blades  that  you  have  got  a 
new  theory  ;  he  laughs  in  your  face ;  and  asks  you 
where  are  your  facts  ?  From  that  family  theories  have 
long  been  banished. 

But  how  is  it  in  the  other  family — among  the  theo- 
logians ?  What  have  you  been  doing  all  this  time  ? 
What  have  you  discovered  for  a  few  centuries  ?  Just 
nothing.  Did  you  mind  your  books — the  books  of  the 
sacred  volume — these  are  your  books — did  you  mind 


them  ?  Tr  you  had,  I  am  sure  the  God  of  grace  is  not 
so  nggardly  of  his  favours,  as  to  refuse  you  some  game 
for  you'-  hunting.  The  Bihle,  the  Bible,  cried  Chil- 
lingworth,  is  the  religion  of  Protestants.  And  any  one 
who  pleases,  may  cry,  the  Bible,  the  Bible,  is  the 
world  of  the  theologian.  Don't  be  mistaken.  The 
Bible  is  not  explored.  There  is  many  a  terra  austra- 
lis  incos;nita,  in  that  moderate  volume.  And  until 
theologians  place  themselves  for  life  on  the  holy  page, 
we  shall  have  no  discoveries  !  Perhaps  some  may  have 
worn  epaulets  for  seven  years,  and  never  measured, 
with  the  line  in  his  hand,  a  single  encampment :  per- 
haps a  man  may  have  been  seven  yeras  a  minister  of 
the  gospel,  and  never  have  analysed  a  single  book  of 
the  sacred  volume,  nor  expounded  it  to  his  flock.  How 
can  there  be  divines  in  this  way  of  working. 

The  philosophers  are  playing  the  men.  Nothing  in 
the  heavens  above,  or  in  earth  below,  can  escape  them. 
Not  a  star  can  show  its  head,  but  they  will  know  some- 
thing about  it.  Not  a  substance  in  nature  but  they  will 
find  some  use  for.  All  this  is  as  it  ought  to  be.  But  how 
goes  the  day  among  the  divines  ?  V\  hat  are  they  do- 
ing ?  What  single  thing  has  been  done  by  them  now, 
for  centuries,  to  purify  the  churches  faith,  and  bring 
her  up  in  all  things,  to  the  purity  of  the  sacred  model. 
Are  not  all  the  systems  of  false  philosophy,  that  ever 
corrupted  the  church  of  God,  in  full  vigour,  corrupting 
it  still  ?  Are  there  not  as  many  parties  in  the  Christian 
church,  as  ever  there  were,  with  their  jarring  doctrines, 
and  mutual  contradictions  ?  And  what  arc  the  divines 
doing;  they  are  very  gravely  looking  on,  and  leaving  it 
to  one  metaphysician,  to  destroy  the  theory  of  another 
metaphysician.  That  much  is  easily  done ;  he  tears  one 
system  down,  and  builds  up  another;  and  thus  leaves 


133 

tbp  wor^*^!  a«!  well  off  as  he  found  it.  The  metaphysi- 
cians will  never  be  able  to  do  this  work,  they  will  never, 
to  all  eternity,  produce  a  good  moral  theory.  God  re- 
serves  that  work  for  his  own  sons  of  the  holy  anointing 
oil ;  and  they  will  come  forth  with  the  holy  sword  of 
the  spirit,  and  jngnlate  these  human  sophistries  :  and 
preach  the  gospel  just  as  they  find  it  in  their  Bible. 
And  then  the  world  will  enjoy  a  good  system,  as  fine 
a  theory  as  ever  infinite  wisdom  devised. 

"  O  mihi  tam  longae  maneat  pars  ultima  vitae 
Spiiilus  ct  quantum  sat  erit  luu  dicere  facta." 

Bat  the  sigli  is  in  vain  !  A  new  generation  must  arise 
in  the  Christian  church — the  race  of  commentators. 
The  world  is  just  ready  for  them.  The  pioneers  have 
cleared  the  w  ay.  They  have  rummaged  every  monk's 
cell ;  they  have  dusted  every  little  tatter  of  a  manu- 
script which  contained  so  much  as  one  jot,  or  one  tittle 
of  the  sacred  volume.  They  have  put  them  into  the 
hands  of  the  Bible  critics,  who  have  weighed  each  one  of 
these  jots  and  tittles,  with  as  much  scrupulosity  as  if  their 
everlasting  all  were  at  stake.  They  have  given  us  the 
sacred  volume,  as  complete  and  as  pure,  as  we  expect 
ever  to  get  it.  But  now  we  want  a  race  of  men  to 
search  the  Scriptures,  and  tell  us  exactly  what  they 
contain.  Whenever  the  church  beholds  her  sons  stu- 
dying  the  sacred  books,  with  the  same  ardour,  assidui- 
ty, and  perseverance,  which  the  philosophers  are  now 
displaying  on  the  book  of  nature,  she  will  find  herself 
already  reformed  ;  her  wrinkles  all  gone  ;  and  herself 
restored  to  the  virgin  beauty  of  her  youth. 

The  Christian  church  does  need  a  race  of  philoso- 
phical ministers.     But  they  must  be  philosophers  of 


134 


the  right  kind — not  system-makers,  but  system-break, 
ers  ;  true  iconoclasts  every  man  of  them. 


CONCLUSION. 

Reader,  1  did  not  trouble  thee  with  a  long  introduc- 
tion of  myself  to  thy  acquaintance.  But  after  having 
travelled  so  long  in  thy  company,  it  would  give  me 
some  pain,  to  think  that  thou  hast  no  curiosity  to  learn 
w  hat  induced  me  to  become  thy  companion.  In  plain 
terms,  I  may  reasonably  be  asked,  what  induced  me  to 
write  this  book.  To  which  question  I  would  make  the 
following  reply. 

That  1  strongly  suspect,  tliat  some  of  the  ideas  con- 
tained in  this  book,  would  at  one  time  or  another,  have 
made  their  way  to  the  public,  under  some  shape  and 
form.  But  entertaining  an  opinion,  that  if  the  Father 
of  lights  reveals  any  thing  to  any  man,  with  an  inten- 
tion that  it  should  ultimately  be  communicated  to  the 
world,  he  will  at  one  time  or  another,  give  a  provi- 
dential call  to  that  man  to  speak  out ;  I  was  in  no  haste 
to  obtrude  myself  upon  the  public  notice.  But  when 
Mr.  M'C.'s  book  (The  Body  of  Christ,)  came  to  my 
hand,  I  suspected  the  time  was  come  when  I  ought  to 
speak  out.  I  accordingly  cat-lugged  several  of  his 
pages  for  reference,  and  took  up  my  pen.  But  when 
I  recollected  that  I  had  reasons,  peculiar  to  myself, 
why  I  should  be  the  last  man  in  the  Avorld  to  bear 
hard  on  a  youth,  who,  in  pursuit  of  what  he  esteemed 
truth,  had  the  misfortune  to  come  into  collision  with 
Presbyteries  and  Synods  ;  and  when  I  considered, 
that  since  the  Synod  was  yet  to  pass  judgment  in  the 


135 

caae,  it  might  be  that  God  had  prepared  some  others 
to  plead  his  cause,  far  better  than  I  could  do  ;  the  pen 
dropped  from  my  hand  :  neither  head,  nor  heart,  nor 
hand,  would  move  in  the  business. 

During  the  time  that  Mr.  M^C's  appeal  was  under 
discussion  in  the  Synod,  I  never  once  entered  the 
liouse  ;  but  I  was  often  asked  my  opinion,  by  several 
of  the  members.  Of  Mr.  M^C.  I  had  as  favourable  an 
opinion  as  any  of  them  :  of  his  system,  I  thought  worse 
than  they  all.  I  freely  offered  my  weapons  to  differ- 
ent members  :  but  no  one  would  have  them.  Some 
seemed  to  doubt  their  goodness  ;  and  I  could  not  teach 
their  use  to  any  body. 

The  Synod  eventually  confirmed  the  sentence  of 
suspension,  passed  on  Mr.  M*C.  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Kentucky-,  on  account  of  his  doctrines.  But  I  was  in- 
formed by  every  man  who  attended  the  debates,  that 
they  did  not  at  all  refute  Mr.  M'C. ;  nor  demonstrate 
icherein  he  was  wrong ;  but  acted  entirely  on  the  de- 
fensive. They  did  not  strike  the  Redeemer's  flag,  but 
neither  did  they  fire  an  offensive  gun.  I  do  not  men- 
tion this  by  way  of  reflection  upon  that  venerable  court ; 
but  only  as  a  reason  to  justify  my  own  procedure,  in 
having  troubled  the  world  with  the  present  publica- 
tion. Mr.  M'C.  protested  against  the  Synod's  deci- 
sion, and  appealed  to  churches  better  informed,  and  to 
the  public  at  large  ;  and  handed  me,  among  others,  a 
copy  of  his  plea. 

It  was  then  the  trumpet  sounded  its  loudest  charge. 
Ezek.  xxxiii.  1.  &c. — ^*  Again  the  word  of  the  Lord 
came  unto  me  saying,  son  of  man,  speak  unto  the  chil- 
dren of  thy  people,  and  say  unto  them,  when  I  bring 
the  sword  upon  a  land,  if  the  people  of  the  land  take  a 
man  of  their  coasts,  and  set  him  for  their  watchman  :  if 


136 

when  lie  seetli  the  sword  come  upon  the  land,  he  blow 
the  trumpet  and  warn  the  peoj)le ;  then  whosoever 
heareth  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  and  taketh  not  warn- 
ing, if  the  sword  come  and  take  him  away,  his  hlood 
shall  be  upon  liis  own  head  ;  he  heard  the  sound  of 
the  trumpet,  and  took  not  warning.  His  blood  sliall 
be  upon  him.  But  he  that  taketh  warning  shall  de- 
liver  his  soul.  But  if  the  watchman  see  the  sword 
come,  and  blow  not  the  trumpet,  and  the  people  be  not 
warned  ;  if  the  sword  come  and  take  any  person  from 
among  tiiem,  he  is  taken  away  in  his  iniquity,  but  his 
blood  will  1  require  at  the  watchman- s  hand  P^ 

'•  So  thou,  O  son  of  man,  I  liave  set  thee  a  watch- 
man unto  the  house  of  Israel ;  therefore  thou  shalt  hear 
the  word  at  my  mouth,  and  warn  them  from  me  !" 

Just  then  I  found  myself  ready,  and  sprung  into  the 
field  with  what  armour  1  had  :  how  1  have  acted,  let 
people  judge  ;  but  let  no  man  ask  me  farther  why  i  am 
here. 

In  respect  to  the  manner  of  communication,  I  dis- 
embarrassed myself  of  all  tiie  solemn  formalities  of  au- 
thorship.  And  seating  myself  in  my  chair,  poured  my 
thoughts  along,  in  whatever  drapery  they  thought  pro- 
per to  bring  with  them.  This  1  am  sure  is  the  easiest 
way  for  an  author  to  e\ press  his  thoughts,  in  the  na- 
tural order  and  series  in  which  they  spring  up  in  his 
ow^n  mind  ;  and  I  strongly  suspect,  that  thoughts  ex- 
pressed in  this  manner,  will  appear  more  perspicuous 
and  natural  to  the  reader,  than  tiiose  which  are  forced 
into  the  attitudes  and  dress  of  a  more  technical  rl»etoric. 
The  real  truth,  however,  is,  that  it  was  my  own  ease 
I  studied. 

Perhaps  some  very  grave  people  may  complain  that 
there  is  too  much  pleasantry  in  these  pages.     With- 


137 

out  presuming  to  sit  on  the  jury  which  is  to  try  myself, 
I  would  make  this  simple  remark  :  that  I  hope  it 
is  all  of  the  genuine  sort — all  of  the  family  of  bene- 
volence. Is  there  a  single  sentence  that  can  wound 
the  honourable  feelings,  or  hurt  the  honest  fame  of  any 
one  man,  alive  or  dead  ?  If  I  thought  there  was,  I 
would  throw  my  book,  now  nearly  printed  off,  into  the 
fire,  and  my  pen  after  it.  Is  there  any  thing  to  dis- 
parage the  fair  pretensions  of  any  one  human  being? 
It  has  escaped  me.  But  since  controversial  theology 
has  dealt  so  largely  in  bitterness  and  wrath,  in  sly  in- 
uendoes,  and  tart  speeches,  was  it  not  worth  the  trou- 
ble of  an  experiment,  whether  it  might  not  be  seasoned 
equally  well  with  good  humour?  But  if  any  man  should 
think  that  ridicule,  fiilriy  and  honestly  applied,  is  not 
a  weapon  forged,  tempered  and  polished  by  the  spirit 
of  Grod,  and  destined  to  gleam  on  fields  where  no  other 
weapon  would  be  of  any  use  ;  let  that  man  read  the 
44th  chapter  of  Isaiah,  and  tell  me  whether  the  eagle 
of  the  Jewish  church  was  an  owl. 

The  extreme  rapidity  with  which  this  work  has 
passed  under  the  pen,  and  under  the  press,  must  ex- 
pose it  to  just  criticism,  in  respect  to  the  delicate  graces 
of  classical  composition.  I  am  still  more  afraid  that 
the  same  cause  may  subject  it  to  the  censure  of  occa- 
sionally dropping  a  link  in  the  chain  of  accurate  de- 
monstration. Perhaps,  however,  some  readers  will  be 
apt  to  think,  that  there  is  a  surplus,  an  exuberance  of 
proof.  And  I  wish  they  may  think  so.  It  was,  how- 
ever, with  every  intention  in  the  world,  that  this  pleni- 
tude of  argument  was  employed.  The  general  doc- 
trine is  of  immense  importance,  and  draws  after  it  a 
train  of  consequences  so  vast  and  momentous,  that  it 
became  a  most  imperative  duty  to  place  it  in  a  great 

T 


138 

variety  of  lights  and  attitudes  ;  that  those  who  could 
not  approve  it  in  one,  might  perhaps  approve  it  in 
another. 

Perhaps  some  of  those  who  are  fonder  of  contem- 
plating modesty  in  others,  than  of  practising  it  them- 
selves, may  think  that  the  general  tone  is  too  decisive; 
and  that  where  ideas  are  exhibited  so  different  from 
those  of  so  many  great  and  good  men,  a  little  hesita- 
tion and  faultering  of  speech  would  have  been  more 
becoming.  I  do  assure  such,  that  wherever  I  had  any 
hesitation,  T  have  expressed  it ;  and  where  I  had  no 
hesitation,  I  of  course  had  none  to  express.  Surely  hy- 
pocritical humility  is  no  great  virtue,  in  either  man  or 
author  !  Surely  when  a  man  ventures  to  address  the 
church  of  God,  on  the  awful  subject  of  her  eternal 
hope,  there  is  something  more  at  stake  than  bis  reputa- 
tion with  the  public.  Has  God  authorised  us  to  utter 
his  truth  in  such  faultering  accents,  as  may  teach  the 
world  that  we  hardly  believe  it  ourselves  ? 

If  the  public  should  see  cause  to  condemn  the  doc- 
trine herein  advanced,  I  cannot,  with  truth,  and  there- 
fore I  shall  not  at  all,  either  in  this  world  or  in  the 
next,  plead  youthful  indiscretion  as  an  apology  for  the 
error.  Boy,  and  youth,  and  man,  must  all  go  down 
together.  I  trod  the  listed  field  at  first,  on  all  my  jper^ 
sonal  responsibinty.  I  have  trodden  it  now  publicly, 
on  all  my  social  responsibility.     This  must  suffice. 

And  since  these  doctrines  must  be  mine,  I  give  the 
world  fair  notice ;  that  whatever  strictures  may  be 
made  upon  them,  by  either  tongue  or  pen,  I  shall  pre- 
serve not  a  sullen  cynical  silence,  but  I  trust  a  meek 
and  resigned  christian  silence.  I  have  thought  the 
cause,  and  argued  the  cause  as  well  as  I  could ! 
That's  all. 


139 

Some  readers  will  probably  have  sagacity  enough 
to  perceive,  that  if  the  views  of  divine  things  herein 
exhibited,  be  correct,  they  lead  to  practical  conclu- 
sions of  the  most  sweeping  kind  ;  and,  perhaps,  terri- 
fied at  these  practical  conclusions,  they  may  struggle 
against  the  principles.  I  am  candid  enough  to  declare, 
that  T  mean  to  support  all  those  practical  conclusions  ; 
and  to  an  extent  which  few  of  my  readers  can  at  all 
conjecture.  This  sliall  be  done,  by  divine  permission, 
in  the  second  part  of  this  treatise. 

I  present  this  little  treatise  to  my  Lord,  a  small, 
(such  my  dove-cotes  afford,)  but  a  very  sincere  thank- 
offering,  for  his  kindness  in  showing  me  something  of 
his  truth. 

I  lay  at  the  feet  of  my  mother,  the  church,  a  few  so- 
IJhisms,  wrung  from  the  fiend,  by  the  least  of  all  her 
sons,  after  a  long  conflict  on  that  bloody  field  : — fed 
only  with  her  milk,  armed  only  with  the  panoply  di- 
vine, encouraged  only  by  my  Lord.  A  thousand  times 
my  helmet  was  cleft  in  twain,  and  I  lay  stunned  and 
bleeding ;  till  he  set  me  on  my  feet,  healed  my  wound, 
put  on  a  new  helmet,  and  set  me  to  again.  I  lay  them 
at  her  feet ;  and  Wo !  Wo !  Wo !  to  the  man  who 
shall  give  them  back  into  his  hand,  to  stab  her  and  her 
babes. 

1  present  it  to  those  men  whotn  God  has  appointed  to 
rid  his  church  of  false  philosophy,  as  a  proof  of  ar- 
dent love,  and  high  ambition  to  be  among  them. 

Atque  utinam  ex  vobis  unus,  vestrique,  fuissem 


I  present  it  to  Mr.  M^C.  as  a  proof  that  there  is,  at 
least,  one  man  in  the  world,  who  will  neither  abuse 


140 

him,  nor  persecute  him  :  nor  yot  condemn  him  with  a 
silent  vote  :  bnt  who  will  step  into  the  field  of  investi- 
gation, and  try  to  put  him  right.  And  now  1  do  insist 
that  he  shall  read  this  work  over  and  over  ;  and  weigh 
it  thoroughly  :  that  he  shall  not  object  to  any  little 
trifling  matters,  which  he  may  think,  and  which  pro- 
bably are,  wrong ;  but  that  he  shall  try  to  grasp  the 
main  argument ;  and  if  that  be  correct,  let  him  acqui- 
esce. Let  him  lay  a  reign  on  his  impetuosity,  and  not 
draw  a  quill  in  reply  for  twelve  months.  A  single  act 
of  rashness,  and  he's  gone  ! 

1  present  this  little  work  to  system- makers,  to  show 
them  how  very  easy  it  is  to  create  a  great  deal  of  trou- 
ble in  this  world  of  ours.  If  it  requires  so  much  toil  to 
pull  down  a  system,  how  immense  must  be  the  toil  of 
building  one  ! 

I  present  it  to  young  theologians,  as  a  specimen  of 
the  cool  and  cautious  manner  in  which  divine  truth 
ought  to  be  investigated.  For  their  sakes,  I  wish  it 
were  far  less  imperfect  than  it  is.  But  such  as  it  is, 
I  must  present  it  to  them  as  such  a  specimen  :  and  not 
a  single  nerve  of  mine  will  feel  a  thrill  of  mortification, 
should  somebody  antiquate  my  labours,  by  producing 
a  more  perfect  specimen  to-morrow. 

And  now  it  shall  be  my  joy,  that  I  have  got  this 
field  to  myself.  In  the  social  ranks  I  could  have 
done  nothing.  All  my  tine  selected  positions  would 
have  been  denied  me  ;  and  the  only  weapons  on  which 
I  trusted,  would  have  been  wrung  from  my  hands,  by 
my  brother's  arms. 

To  close  the  whole  ;  I  have  consulted  my  heart,  and 
am  sure  that  no  oifence  to  any  human  being  has  been 
intended  in  this  publication.  I  have  consulted  my  best 
judgmeat,  and  am  told  that  no  reasonable  ground  of 


141 

offence  haa  been  given.  But  if,  after  all,  I  must  sutfer — 
my  fortitude  whispers  in  ray  ear  ;  I  have  supported 
you  under  ten  times  worse  evils  than  can  come,  in- 
curred for  ten  times  less  than  no  offence,  and  I  shall 
never  forsake  you  in  a  good  cause  !  Here^  at  least,  I 
shall  not  be  deceived.     My  motto  is 

The  opinions  of  men,  their  criticisms,  their  censures, 
and  their  applause,  are,  in  reality,  very  little  tilings. 
Their  love,  and  their  hatred,  and  their  envy,  will  short- 
ly have  perished  ;  neither  will  they  have  any  more  a 
portion,  for  ever,  in  any  thing  that  is  done  under  the 
sun.  But  divine  truth — she  trieth  all  things,  and  is 
herself  tried  of  none  ;  she  judgeth  all,  and  is  herself 
judged  of  none:  times  and  seasons  change,  the  opinions 
and  doctrines,  and  systems  of  men  revolve  through  end- 
less mutations  ;  but  divine  truth  remains  through  all 
ages  and  generations  immutable,  the  pure  essential  ray 
of  the  Father  of  lights,  with  whom  is  no  variableness, 
nor  shadow  of  turning. 

Tfl  GHJi  AOSA 


END  OF  THE  FIRST  PART. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

In  page  1,  of  the  introduction,  8tli  line  from  the  bot- 
tom, it  is  said  that  Mr.  M'C.  was  "  deposed  from  the 
office  of  the  holy  ministry."  This  is  an  error ;  the 
sentence  was  "  suspension  from  the  exercise  of  his  of- 
fice." 

Page  13,  are  the  following  words  : — ^-The  solution 
contemplated  is,  that  Jesus  did  not  descend  from 
Adam  by  ordinary  generation  ;  and  that  as  ordinary 
generation  is  the  bond  which  unites  us  to  Adam,  the 
extraordinary  generation  of  our  Lord  prevented  a  fe- 
deral union  with  Adam  ;  and  acquitted  him  from  any 
personal  responsibility  for  Adam's  conduct.  And  I 
acknowledge  that  this  is  the  solution  of  the  question 
given  in  the  confessions,  and  catechisms,  and  formula- 
ries of  all  the  Reformed  Churches,  and  in  the  writings 
of  the  ablest  divines."  Such  is  the  impression  on  my 
mind,  from  what  I  have  read  on  the  subject.  It  would 
be  well  worthy  the  labour  of  some  one,  fond  of  theo- 
logical reading,  to  trace  the  growth  of  the  doctrines  of 
reformation,  from  their  first  germ ;  and  then  to  trace 
their  decline,  and  its  causes.  I  strongly  suspect,  that 
such  a  man  would  bring  to  light  some  precious  disco- 
veries, respecting  the  causes  which  have  given  so  much 
diversity  to  men's  religious  ideas,  that  one  wonders 
sometimes  whether  all  men  be  of  the  same  species. 
Our  religious  opinions  are  strangely  modified,  by  tlie 
philosophy,  the  superstitions,  and  the  manners  of  our 
age.  The  common  method  of  resolving  a  man's  pe- 
culiar opinions  into  his  pride,  his  love  of  fame,  his  en- 
mity to  the  truth,  &c.  has  two  inconveniences,  which 


JfOSTSCRlPT. 

render  its  practicable  utility  very  questionable.  The 
first  of  these  inconveniences  is,  that  it  is  equally  capa- 
ble of  application  in  all  cases,  which  would  not  leave 
an  honest  man  on  earth : — the  second  is,  that  we  can-, 
not  be  absolutely  certain  of  its  truth  in  any  case. 


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